The purpose of the study was to investigate influence of decentralization of Teachers Service Commission functions on service delivery among public secondary school teachers in Tigania West Sub-County, Kenya. The study sought to establish the influence of decentralization of teachers’ recruitment; the influence of decentralization of promotion of teachers; the influence of decentralization on maintenance of teachers’ standards; and assessment of the influence of decentralization of discipline of teachers on service delivery in public secondary schools in Tigania West Sub County, Kenya. Data was collected using questionnaires and interview guide and analysed using descriptive statistics, particularly frequencies and percentages. The sample consisted of 12 principals from the anticipated 12; 44 teachers from the anticipated 48; one TSC sub county director; four Curriculum Support Officers from the anticipated four; and ten Board of Management members from the anticipated twelve participated in the study. This represented 100%, 91.7%, 100% 100% and 83.3% return rate respectively. From the findings of the study, several conclusions were arrived at: the study established that empowerment of school management on teachers’ recruitment and teachers’ service delivery had led to recruitment of teachers based on year of graduation and age rather than on competence which at times was a disservice to the applicants; it had increased transparency in the recruitment exercise which created a dissonance between the views of principals and CSOs with the teachers a sign that the school management was not very transparent in the recruitment process; schools were able to get the right teachers according to their needs; empowering BOM in the recruitment had helped improve the link between the community, the school and the teachers; and it had helped in the recruitment of teachers within the community. The study established that teachers viewed decentralization of TSC services as a positive move towards improvement of service delivery. The effectiveness of this strategy was being hampered by a number of challenges that affected the transparency of the entire process. There were many challenges experienced during the recruitment of teachers and corruption among the TSC County office was a key challenge. On the influence of decentralization of teachers’ promotion on service delivery in public secondary schools the study established that the promotion of teachers had improved teachers delivery of service, promotion of teachers had motivated teachers to be readily available to assist students and approachable when necessary and promotion of teachers had motivated teachers to be available during the working hours. Teachers viewed promotion as key incentive towards service delivery in schools. Decentralization of teachers’ promotion on service delivery and performance of their work had many benefits to teachers, learners and education in general though it was experiencing a myriad of challenges. On the influence of decentralization on maintenance of teachers’ standards on service delivery in public secondary schools the study established there was both internal and external monitoring of teachers work in ensuring that the standards set were being adhered to. On the influence of decentralization of teachers’ discipline on service delivery in public secondary schools the study established that TSC Sub county office had sensitized and advised teachers on the essence of professionalism and how to maintain teachers’ code of conduct and teachers with disciplinary cases were being expedited and given a chance for their cases to be heard. Challenges encountered when the school handles disciplinary cases included: investigation of disciplinary cases was tedious and time consuming; learners lost contact hours with teachers when cases were not expedited; witch hunting from seniors increased; there was lack of fairness in the adjudication of cases; there were no proper investigations that were being carried out to arrive at proper verdicts; at times the teacher might not be given a fair hearing; there is lack of follow up of students' cases by their parents; teachers were not well acquainted with the code of conduct and the public officer ethics act; and family quarrels ended up in school. The recommendations of the study were in double folds: at government level through the Ministry of national treasury and planning, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Ministry of Education and at school level.

Forests are an important source of livelihoods especially to local communities who obtain from them both indirect and direct benefits. Direct benefits include timber, firewood, medicinal plants, and fruits while the indirect include roles in nutrient cycling, water conservation and carbon dioxide sequestration among others. Several initiatives have been launched by international community with an aim of curtailing illegal sourcing of direct benefits through strengthening forest law enforcement. Proponents argue that law enforcement is a means to halt illegal logging, deter current forest loss, capture lost revenues for government and revive viable framework for sustainable forest management while the critics argue that even well-meaning law enforcement can perpetuate social injustices and inequities by having costs that fall on the poor. The current study sought to contribute to the understanding of the implication of forest law enforcement on livelihoods of local communities living adjacent to forest reserves in Uganda. Specifically, the study assessed the forms of forest law enforcement applied in villages adjacent to Budongo Central Forest Reserve, the impacts of these forms of forest law enforcement on livelihoods of communities, and the attitudes and perceptions of local communities. Data was collected using 7 key informant interviews, document review, 4 focus group discussions and 202 household surveys. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square test and Fisher exact test were applied determine the association between the forms of forest law enforcement and the location. Chi-square test was used determine the association of the perceived impacts of forest law enforcement on livelihoods impacts and the different socio-demographic characteristics. Binary Regression was conducted to determine the relationship of the attitudes and perceptions towards forest law enforcement. Mann Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were conducted to determine the difference on perceptions and the different characteristics of the respondents. Qualitative content analysis using manifest approach of transcribed data based on themes was used to determine key messages from focus group discussions and key informants. The study revealed that the most applied forms of forest law enforcement included arrest/detaining of forest law breakers (99.5%), prosecution and trial in Courts of law (99%), destroying of crops grown in forest reserves (96%), sensitization on forest law by Government Agencies (81%) and promoting of forest user groups or Collaborative Forest Management (86.7%). The choice of the form of forest law enforcement is determined by a number of factors but the main ones are; the nature and magnitude of the offence and the vulnerability of the offenders. Forest law enforcement negatively affected recreation activities, access to poles from the forest, grazing, individual and community forest concessions within Budongo CFR. However, Forest law enforcement had no impact on spiritual activities within the Forest and on access to the Forest for Fodder. Attitudes towards forest law enforcement were influenced by sex, age and marital status of the respondents. Younger respondents (26-35) and Married respondents had more positive attitudes towards forest law enforcement. The study recommends that forest law enforcement agencies should emphasize using multiple forms of forest law enforcement including conciliatory forms.

Introduction: The dual epidemic of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and tuberculosis (TB) is a growing public health challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), Uganda inclusive. Due to the immunologic dysfunction associated with diabetes mellitus, the odds of latent TB infection (LTBI) are increased in DM. This growth in DM burden is therefore projected to result in increase in TB burden and slow progress towards ending TB as a public health threat. Despite this observation, studies investigating the burden, immunologic profile, and factors associated with LTBI in the adult population with DM in Uganda are lacking. Objective: This study aimed to determine the prevalence, immunological profile, and factors associated with LTBI, among adults with diabetes mellitus attending the outpatient diabetes clinic at Kiruddu National Referral Hospital (KNRH). Methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out at the outpatient diabetes clinic of KNRH. A total of 185 study participants were recruited by systematic random sampling. Relevant sociodemographic and clinical data was collected using a pre-tested case report form. All study participants underwent comprehensive clinical, laboratory, and radiological work up for DM, LTBI, active TB status, and immunological profiling. LTBI was defined as a positive QuantiFERON Gold in Tube Plus Test (QFT) result. The socio-demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics of participants with and without LTBI were compared and the differences in these characteristics were analysed using the Chi-square test for categorical data and the Mann Whitney-U test for continuous data. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the factors associated with LTBI. Results: We screened 186 study participants, of whom one was diagnosed with active TB and excluded. The median age was 50 (IQR = 42, 59) years, median HbA1c was 8.4% (IQR = 7.1%, 9.9%) and median duration since DM diagnosis was nine months (IQR = 5, 20 months). More than three quarters of study participants were female: 78.4% (145) were female; 30.8% (57) were aged 41 – 50 years, 33.5% (62) had been diagnosed with DM in less than six months, 87.6% (162) were on metformin therapy; 77.3% (143) had poor glycemic control with glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels greater than or equal to 7.0%, 5.4% (10) had Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV), 41.1% (76) were obese (BMI ≥ 30kg/m2), 34.1% (63) had kidney dysfunction. Prevalence of LTBI was 57.8% (107/185). LTBI prevalence was higher among males than among females (65% vs 55.9%) without statistical significance. Compared to individuals aged less than 30 years old, individuals aged 51 – 60 years had higher odds of LTBI (OR = 8.10, p = 0.01, 95% CI = 1.59 – 41.21). Individuals with LTBI had lower CD8 counts (p = 0.02), lower white blood cell (WBC) and platelet counts (p = 0.02 and p = 0.01 respectively). Median absolute neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), monocyte to lymphocyte ratio (MLR) and CD4 to CD8 ratios were similar between those with and without LTBI, while 11.9% (22), 6.0% (11) and 14.6% (27) of all participants had inverted CD4 to CD8 ratio, elevated NLR and elevated MLR. Conclusions and recommendations: LTBI is prevalent among adults with DM. Older individuals aged 51 – 60 years carry higher odds and should be prioritized for preventive therapy. LTBI in DM is associated with an immune suppression phenotype of lower absolute WBC and CD8 counts. We recommend further studies to describe temporal relationships between LTBI and immunological dysfunction (such as TB-specific interleukin-17 and tumor necrosis factor secretion by CD4 cells and monocytes) in DM.