DR. SAMUEL MWITURIA MAINA PhD, IDR, OGW

PREFACE
The Central Gĩkũyũ occupy Mũrang’a County, which is in the central part of Kenya. At various times in history, the Central Gĩkũyũ territory has been known as Ithanga, Mũkũrwe-inĩ, Gĩkuyu, Kĩrĩnyaga, Metumi, Fort Hall and finally Mũrang’a. They are the original Gĩkũyũ and direct descendants of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi. The country of the Central Gĩkũyũ,' whose system of tribal organisation will be described in this book, lies between the southern Gĩkũyũ of Kĩambu (Kabete) and the northern Gĩkũyũ of nyĩrĩ (Gaki) all three lying in the central part of Kenya. Mũrang’a is divided into six administrative sub-counties: Kandara, Gatanga, Kĩharũ, kangĩma, Kĩgumo and Maragwa. The population, according to the 2019 census is (1,056,640) one million, fifty-six hundred, six hundred and forty. The Central Gĩkũyũ people are agriculturists, today keeping a few flocks of sheep and goats and cattle. They are also ardent businessmen.
The cultural and historical traditions of the Central Gĩkũyũ people have been verbally handed down from generation to generation. These traditions are quite distinct from the other two of the north and south. In writing this book, I sought to bring out this distinction to establish the difference with the southern Gĩkũyũ as was aptly captured by Louis Leakey in his treatise titled “southern Kikuyu before 1903”. Probably the only and most comprehensive book on Gĩkũyũ culture, Leakey candidly dwelt on the southern Gĩkŭyŭ and confesses to not having had much contact with what he wrongly summed up as northern Gĩkŭyŭ.
In that said north, there exists two distinct Gĩkŭyŭ cultural groupings that have never been studied to establish this glaring distinction between the Nyĩrĩ and Mũrang’a groupings.
From inception, the Central Gĩkũyũ carried forth their information and history through memory. In the book “a prehistoric people: the Central Gĩkũyũ before 1970”, effort was made to collect relevant information from sometimes very meagre sources to try to correct the misconception that the Gĩkŭyŭ are a homogenous people practicing a common culture. As a Central Gĩkũyũ myself, having been born and grown up there, it is clear after interaction with the other two, that the original Gĩkũyũ still exists in Mũrang’a (fig 15) as close to as it was during Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi era. It is from these original Gĩkũyũ that the other two, the southern and northern, developed after dispersal from Mũrang’a.
My objective was not to enter into controversy with those who have endeavoured, or are attempting, to describe the same things from outside observation. Instead, I sought to let the truth speak for itself. I also hoped that the reader will utilize the contents to solve real social problems by using the described efficacious methods and ideas.
I am a mũthuri wa kĩama (elder) of the second grade (Kĩama kĩa mbũri igĩrĩ) having fulfilled all the requirements of the same group. While the kĩama ‘died’ in the advent of colonialism and subsequent quasi-colonial African governments in Kĩambu and Nyĩrĩ, the kĩama in Mũrang’a never ceased its processes and functions. It has therefore been continuous since the first mwaki was established in Gĩkũyũ country. From my interaction with this mĩaki, I have for example come to establish why Leakey refused to publish an abridged copy of his thesis. Leakey must have been in a big dilemma. Having joined solemnly the Gĩkũyũ kĩama, Leaky was bound by his oath which I also went through and which I cannot explain here. His family may not have understood why he couldn’t publish despite the promise of incessant income and wealth.
In the course of research for this book, I came across the same dilemma despite, being a scholar, in fact a university lecturer at the University of Nairobi, as Leakey did, that I could not divulge all that I know due to the same oath Leakey took. From this you can imagine that I was not able in this book to write all and everything or detail that I know and found due to this predicament.
However, I made every effort to describe the daily activities and life of the Central Gĩkũyũ people from inception at mũkũrwe wa nyagathanga including, harvesting, care of animals, farming, trading, marriage, tribal raiding, song and dancing, law and law giving, customs related to sex, clothing and food, religion, death and disposal of the dead up to the colonial invasion, Mau Mau war and the aftermath up to 1970.
In this endeavour, I found out that within the Central Gĩkũyũ, everyone was provided for. Rules and regulations governed every aspect of life. Those rules had to be obeyed without question. Good among the people are those who kept the rules. The bad ones brought to themselves and family bad omen and uncleanliness, thus requiring debilitating amounts of expenses both human and material for cleansing ceremonies.
The Central Gĩkũyũ did not lack anything. Their land is fertile. Their security is guaranteed by the four holy mountains, kĩanjahi, kĩambirũirũ, Kĩrĩnyaga and nyandarũa. They had a system of government that covered every aspect of life. Before the coming of the colonialist, they lived in a kind of ‘garden of Eden’ which literally flowed with milk and honey, honey provided by their mwanĩki and milk by mũrĩithi.
In their territory, before the corrupt and evil colonial enterprise, the Central Gĩkũyũ had devised ways to solve all their social problems. And this is how the Central Gĩkũyũ in eight methods, solved almost all social cultural problems that the west, in all their self-proclaimed wisdom have never been able to fathom;
1. Prostitution: There was no prostitution! Sexual desires were serviced among the process of communal accessibility for every riika (age group). One man’s wife in the age group was wife to all the men in the group and vice versa for women. This of course happened within the rules defined elsewhere in this book. Today, prostitution is a big problem in Kenya due to acquisition of broken western cultures.
2. Orphans: There were no orphans in Central Gĩkũyũ! Any child who may have lost her mother was simply mothered by the other wives belonging to the baby’s father. It was therefore not possible that a bay would have to be adopted. In fact, the Central Gĩkũyũ did not even have a word for adoption. It was just a matter of continuity of life with the other mother. The child, if orphaned while very young, sometimes never even came to discover s/he is orphaned.
3. Widows: There were no widows in Central Gĩkũyũ. If a woman lost her husband, the husband’s brother jumped into the role of husband (gŭthambio) and father of his brothers’ children in a very seamless fashion (it was not automatic that he also becomes a sexual husband). The woman continued her life as normal and in fact continued to increase her husband’s family and wealth. This was also within parameters described elsewhere in this book.
4. Widowers: There were no widowers in Central Gĩkũyũ! Since almost every man had several wives, the man was never left alone. He just shifted responsibility for himself and children (fig 35) to the other wives and life continued as normal.
5. Bachelors or spinsters: There were no bachelors or spinsters! Every young man or woman had to get attached to the opposite sex immediately they attain marriageable age. It was the duty of their mothers, genadmothers, sisters and aunties to connect them to sitable partners by all means. This is because it was inconceivable that anyone should endure a life of suffering, lack of intimacy and social security while living in a progressive society as the central Gĩkŭyŭ was. This ensured that no one should engage in prostitution or any kid should be born a bastard.
6. Divorce: There was no divorce in Central Gĩkũyũ! Even if I have described the divorce process elsewhere in this book, in reality, there was no real divorce in Central Gĩkũyũ in the manner envisaged by western culture and the church. Even if a couple went through the divorce process, the woman never left the homestead, especially if she had children (fig 24).
A man would construct a hut for her in the far-flung corner of his land and a private access to her own compound. In that arrangement, the woman’s children (fig 35) continued to mingle with the rest of the family and their father. Her sexual desires were satisfied by the riika living around or visitors and travellers of the man’s riika needing bed and lodge. They would get a wife in good measure of the man’s riika relations just as they would do for him while in the same situation. In fact, she most times enjoyed her sex life more than the active wives.
7. Broken families: There were no broken families in Central Gĩkũyũ! In the absence of prostitution, orphans, widows, widowers and divorce, it was inconceivable that a family would appear broken in a discernible manner. The social setting was such that belonging to a gĩthaku, Nyŭmba, mŭhĩrĩga and rŭgongo was a social safety net to cover all shortcomings of any section of the family. Matters were handled in a community wide family setting so that you couldn’t realise even when one is broke. That common approach dispersed the honour and integrity of the whole family among a wider safety net.
8. Poverty: There was no debilitating poverty among the individual Central Gĩkũyũ man or family! The setup was such that the whole clan formed a safety net covering the individual on issues of enormous and not subsistence need. Fines, dowry and fixed property acquisition were clan universal.
The culture of Kŭhithia mahiŭ (hiding away of animals) meant that in time of natural calamity, should a man lose all his wealth, he could eventually replenish it from his own away stock. The process of dowry (fig 28) exchange itself was a huge safety net for families with girls of marriageable age (fig 32). A seemingly poor man had the chance to wake up to huge wealth from this process with cows and goats donning his pen to the amazement of his peers and therefore the popular saying “mŭkabi atongaga na ŭtukũ’ (a lucky man may get rich instantly). Raiding could also change a man’s fortunes in a flash especially when his sons come of age, therefore attaining military status by raiding after initiation. Poverty was never permanent.
Close to the end of the nineteenth century when the British established their evil scheme in Mũrang’a, many of Central Gĩkũyũ customs were criminalized and banned and therefore became untenable. They could not hold cultural meetings, they could not brew their cultural beer round which all spiritual ceremonies were tied, they could not move freely in their territory. They were enslaved reciprocal to their inherent generosity to foreigners. But they were in no way foolish. They rose against the oppressor who had taken all their land and dignity. The Mau Mau war was very intense in Central Gĩkũyũ as you will find in this book, but the people were not to relent.
With their traditional war tactics, their arm making technology and believe in their God and soil, they gave it their all and won.
The Central Gĩkũyũ life however, from the encounter, had changed forever. They have a saying that “Ndĩngĩingĩra irima nandĩmunyũo njoya” (it cannot enter a barrow and not leave some hairs on the walls. Today, almost all Central Gĩkũyũ people are Christians; they are educated and have immersed themselves into western style business. Inherently, a Central Gĩkũyũ is one who doesn’t forget. Despite this inculturation into western traditions, s/he remains inherently a true Gĩkũyũ, following his culture and believes imbued with only what is good and necessary for personal and family survival.
In this book therefore, the reader will find explained the story of the origin of the original Gĩkũyũ, how they consolidated themselves and expanded into a formidable ethnicity, their land tenure, how they practiced their agriculture, industry, art and architecture. Where it came to their increase and expansion, their kinship and family life was central to a cultural way that integrated children from birth through growing up till the initiation of their boys and girls (fig 32) through life milestones. They sang and choreographed their life through songs and dances (fig 40) especially concerning initiation and war.
On further indulgence, you will find that the Central Gĩkũyũ had an elaborate law and justice system which was imposed through taboos and uncleanliness including fines. Such uncleanliness could lead or emanate from activities like warfare and raiding or even death whose solution was as elaborated as it was debilitating. While explaining these in the book, it was not lost to me the need for clarity of purpose. Therefore, as much as possible, the sections are arranged in a chronological manner.
Law and justice were very elaborate in Central Gĩkũyũ culture and in this order, they seem to sit well before warfare and raiding as presented. The accruing taboos (Mĩgiro) and uncleanliness (Thahu) governed the tenets of those laws as sanctions against tyranny with agreed limits. At the end of life for the Central Gĩkũyũ, the process was also not a walk in the park. They revered their dead and through established steps disposed very honourably to the spirit world all their dead as prescribed.
I have made the account of Central Gĩkũyũ life as distinct from the others as full and as complete as my time and opportunities would allow. This book is not an anthropological analysis of events. Neither is it a historical anthology of events. Rather, it is a record of an attempt to salvage the little information about the Central Gĩkũyũ that stand the danger of getting lost.
Thaaaai-to the members of the Central Gĩkũyũ kĩama, mwaki wa rũgongo rũa kĩranga, in which I stand as mũthuri wa mbũri igĩrĩ, my comrades-in-arms of the past, present, and future. In this work as in all my other activities, their co-operation, courage, and sacrifice in the service of the Central Gĩkũyũ people have been the inspiration and the sustaining power.
Finally, I extend my warmest thanks to all those elders and scholars as well as people of all walks of life who gave me much of their time to help collect, critic and record the facts correctly. Of particular note is the seminal writings of Joseph W. Kamenjũ, Mũkaru Ng’ang’a, Louis Leakey, Geofrey Mũriũki, Maina wa Kĩnyati and Kĩnyatta Jonestone kamau (Jomo). Again, thank you very much.

Samuel Mwitũria Maina PhD OGW
Nairobi, 2023

Wildlife tourism is a driver of economic growth in Kenya, but there is a decline in wildlife population due to climate change, habitat degradation, diseases and natural resource use. Conservation of fauna takes place in protected areas with some animals living outside the parks. Northern Rangeland Trust has empowered women participation in wildlife conservation projects by establishing savings and credit cooperatives to encourage new businesses, and develop community development projects. Few women have taken up roles in conservation due to social and cultural restraints hence favoring men who are more active in conservation process. The researcher aims to explore the socio-cultural constraints to women involvement in Taita Taveta, analyze the position of women in the participatory process in conservation, and create a social design framework to increase the participation of women in wildlife conservation. Qualitative research will be employed in the study, with random sampling of participants in the community, twenty women from different households will be interviewed and data collected will be analyzed thematically to represent participation in conservation management. Women participation in wildlife conservation is well adopted in the country; most of the involvement however is not at the initial stage of the participatory process hence the need for social design innovation to identify the needs of women and their important role in conservation management.

Preface

T
he communication skills course is to a large extent mandatory for all students aiming to acquire any kind of certification from the university. It is usually a first year introductory course. This shows the important role competencies in communication skills plays in the acquisition of the rest of the courses taught at the university and in fact any other institution of higher learning. The generic content of the course is as follows:

Overview of the communication process in relation to reading, writing, and speaking skills; the nature of the reading process with a focus on the evaluation of bottom-up, top-down and interactive models; important factors in readability; cohesion, coherence, sentence length and complexity, organization; paragraph structure and reader strategy; fundamentals factors in effective writing process; principles of development in expressive, informative argumentative and persuasive writing skills, exploring works and meanings; denotations, connotations, metaphors, euphemisms and clichés; report writing; writing a research or library paper plagiarism and how to avoid it. Transcoding; mechanics or oral presentation techniques in seminars; tutorials, public places; listening in academic contexts. Information skills; public places; listening in academic contexts. Information skills; information sources, types of libraries; reference works and techniques; information technology, evaluation of information sources; classification schemes
This book “communication skills” is based on the need to highlight issues pertinent to this content. The aim is to equip the student with the requisite competencies to meet her academic needs throughout her/his course in the institution.
Upon successful coverage of the materials contained in this book, the student should be able to:

1. Identify basic communication principles.
2. Apply a communication process model.
3. Set clear goals for their communication.
4. Determine outcomes and results.
5. Initiate communications.
6. Avoid communication breakdowns.
7. Translate across communication styles.
8. Listen for improved understanding.
9. Achieve genuine communication.
10. Match the body language to the message.
11. Work constructively with emotions.
12. Manage verbal communication.

Forward
E
veryone uses interpersonal communication skills. We use them at home with our families, in the workplace with our bosses and co-workers, on our computers when we answer email, and on the telephone when we make orders. This manual is intended to help you improve your interpersonal communication skills and develop new skills to become a more effective communicator. Communication skills apply to all human relationships, personal and business. We gain respect or rejection based on our interpersonal communication skills. People send us messages in every interpersonal communication encounter.
Some of those messages can be explicit (verbal comments) or implicit (nonverbal facial expressions, other body language, and physical demeanour). The first step in communication is using the appropriate method. In the work place there is likely to be a variety of communication tools available. One needs to decide whether a situation calls for an email, a phone call or a face to face conversation. Both face to face conversations and telephone calls allow you to have two-way conversation and give you an opportunity to get your personality across, which is far harder via email. Conversely email is great if you are trying to organise a meeting or to summarise the action points from a meeting as it is more time effective than telephoning everyone individually. This applies when either written or verbal communication is called upon. A formal tone is more appropriate when addressing a new or recently acquired customer than if you were to address your colleagues in a team meeting.
Hand in hand with this approach is recognizing when you need to adapt the way you present information based on the experience of your audience. When presenting information to a group of colleagues who have been working on a project with you, it would be reasonable to assume, that they would have a similar level of background knowledge and understanding as you do. Conversely if you are communicating the results of your project to a new audience, you need to ensure that any abbreviations or acronyms are clearly explained.
Communication should never be a one-way process. Visibly showing your interest in what others are saying helps to build rapport and can also be achieved through positive body language like appropriately maintaining eye contact, smiling and nodding. Competency in written and verbal communication skills means you are able to:
• Select appropriate and effective communication methods.
• Ascertain the appropriate tone and level of language in specific situations.
• Present information via a verbal or written medium that is easily comprehensible to others.
• Actively listen and pay attention to people, asking questions if necessary.

This book will provide innovative training contents and tools to allow participants to learn, practice and increase their Communication Skills.
The objectives
Familiarize the students with the concept of human communication; theories and dimensions; and its role in the success of the individual on personal, social, and practical levels. Make sure that the student acquires the necessary skills of the effective communication with himself and others in social and formal settings. Teach the student how to apply these skills in various life situations. The main aims of the book are to foster:
 Awareness of the variability of language and communication forms over time and in different geographical, social and Communications environments.
 Sound knowledge of Basic vocabulary, functional grammar and style, functions of language.
 Awareness of various types of verbal interaction (conversations, interviews, debates, etc.) and the main features of different styles and registers in spoken language.
 Understanding the paralinguistic features of communication (voice-quality features, facial expressions, postural and gesture systems).
 And to practice and to improve the: Skills needed to use aids (such as notes, schemes, maps) to produce, present or understand complex texts in written or oral form (speeches, conversations, instructions, interviews, debates).
 Ability to communicate, in written or oral form, and understand, or make others understand, various messages in a variety of situations and for different purposes.
Communication includes the ability to listen to and understand various spoken messages in a variety of communicative situations and to speak concisely and clearly. It also comprises the ability to monitor whether one is getting one’s message across successfully and the ability to initiate, sustain and end a conversation in different communicative contexts.
To achieve the goals outlined above, this book broadly covered the following topics: The communication process; approaches to the study of communication; information retrieval and library use ; listening skills and lecture comprehension strategies; writing skills ; direction words, paragraphs and punctuations; methods of taking notes; writing in examinations; writing of assignments, resumes, and reports. Oral representation and public address; information dissemination techniques; communication technology; visual literacy. The aim was to equip and improve the learners Ability to distinguish, in listening, speaking, reading and writing, relevant from irrelevant information. Ability to formulate one’s arguments, in speaking or writing, in a convincing manner and take full account of other viewpoints, whether expressed in written or oral form.

The deplorable state of the environment has lately become a major issue nationally and internationally. A major contributor to this sorry state is polythene (plastics). Towards better understanding of this issue, this paper cites myriad existing literature that decries the effects of polythene waste and its innumerable effects on health, habitat and future generations. The paper further apportions currently available methods of assimilating environmental aspects into product design and the product life cycle. On the Kenyan situation, the paper cites the incapacity and apathy in dealing with environmental issues and documents the growing crisis of haphazard heaps of solid waste, especially plastic waste. Using a multiple case study approach, a study whose objective was to evaluate the design process with the aim of investigating the level of incorporation of eco-ethical consideration in design of product designers was carried out. Qualitative and quantitative data was collected from primary and sources and analysed. Results revealed designer omission of eco-ethical strategies in the design process, a ruined environmental living dispensation and apathy and ignorance of eco-aspects. Based on these findings this paper recommends integration of eco-ethical aspects all along the product design process

Preface
I have taught research methods in several universities and colleges. During that period, the need for a simplified style of delivery of the course has been evident. Firstly due to the diversity of backgrounds of the students, but also the fear of everything numerical that seems to emanate from high school misconceptions about maths. The objective of the book on “qualitative and quantitative Research Methods simplified” was to provide a mellowed version while avoiding this dilemma.
Simply put, the purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of scientific procedures. The main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden and which has not been discovered as yet. Though each research study has its own specific purpose, we may think of research objectives as falling into a number of following broad groupings:
Aims and Objectives of Research Methodology
1. To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it (studies with this object in view are termed as exploratory or formulative research studies);
2. To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation or a group(studies with this object in view are known as descriptive research studies);
3. To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated with something else (studies with this object in view are known as diagnostic research studies);
4. To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables (such studies are known as hypothesis-testing research studies).

Research Methods Learning Objectives
Specifically, in this book, the following learning objectives have been prepared to assist you in your preparation for the comprehensive examination in the area of research methods. A review of content related to these learning objectives should provide you with the foundation required for a successful understanding of the content.
1. Students should understand a general definition of research design.
2. Students should know why educational research is undertaken, and the audiences that profit from research studies.
3. Students should be able to identify the overall process of designing a research study from its inception to its report.
4. Students should be familiar with ethical issues in educational research, including those issues that arise in using quantitative and qualitative research.
5. Students should know the primary characteristics of quantitative research and qualitative research.
6. Students should be able to identify a research problem stated in a study.
7. Students should be familiar with how to write a good introduction to an educational research study and the components that comprise such an introduction.
8. Students should be familiar with conducting a literature review for a scholarly educational study:
a. The steps in the overall process.
b. The types of databases often searched.
c. The criteria for evaluating the quality of a study.
d. The ways of organizing the available material.
e. The different types of literature reviews.
9. Students should be able to distinguish a purpose statement, a research question or hypothesis, and a research objective.
10. Students should be able to define the meaning of a variable, and to be able to identify independent, dependent, and mediating variables.
11. Students should be able to distinguish between categorical and continuous measures. 12. Students should be able to define theory use in quantitative research.
13. Students should be able to design a good quantitative purpose statement and good quantitative research questions and hypotheses.
14. Students should be able to define a central phenomenon in qualitative research.
15. Students should be able to design a good qualitative purpose statement and a good central question in qualitative research.
16. Students should know the steps in the process of quantitative data collection.
17. Students should be able to distinguish between a population and a sample.
18. Students should know the various types of quantitative sampling and which ones present the most rigorous approach to use.
19. Students should understand the link between quantitative research questions and data collection and how research questions are operationalized in educational practice.
20. Students should be familiar with the steps involved in identifying and selecting a good instrument to use in a study
To meet all the objectives listed above, the author divided the book into fifteen chapters. Each chapter is introduced with learning objectives and keywords to help you pick the titles suitable for every research session. The same are also listed in detail under the table of contents to enable the reader to identify even the subtitles quickly as appropriate.
It is my believe that after reading this book, the reader will be able to first of all appreciate research methods as doable and then utilise the various components for their examination or research needs.

Samuel Mwituria Maina PhD, IDR, OGW

Wildlife tourism is a driver of economic growth in Kenya, but there is a decline in wildlife population due to climate change, habitat degradation, diseases and natural resource use. Conservation of fauna takes place in protected areas with some animals living outside the parks. Northern Rangeland Trust has empowered women participation in wildlife conservation projects by establishing savings and credit cooperatives to encourage new businesses, and develop community development projects. Few women have taken up roles in conservation due to social and cultural restraints hence favoring men who are more active in conservation process. The researcher aims to explore the socio-cultural constraints to women involvement in Taita Taveta, analyze the position of women in the participatory process in conservation, and create a social design framework to increase the participation of women in wildlife conservation. Qualitative research will be employed in the study, with random sampling of participants in the community, twenty women from different households will be interviewed and data collected will be analyzed thematically to represent participation in conservation management. Women participation in wildlife conservation is well adopted in the country; most of the involvement however is not at the initial stage of the participatory process hence the need for social design innovation to identify the needs of women and their important role in conservation management.

Bovine foscioliosis coused by F. giganticais widespread in   There is a large collection of reports of fasciolosis in Kenya based on  abattoir data records from veterinary investigation laboratories (VILS) as well as reports on a few farm study was carried out to improve on the reports.  Diagnosis of fasciola infection has traditionally been based on detection of typical eggs in the faeces.  A variety of other techniques are now available eg enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), which has shown to be sensitive and useful. Three agro-ecological zoned were defined depending on the reported prevalence; high risk, medium risk and low risk zones.  Two study districts were picked at random from each zone.  The study farms were selected using the two stage cluster sampling. Faecal and blood samples were collected on the farm.  Serum was later harvested.  ELISA and faecal sedimatation tests (FST) were carried out. A total of 2434 faecal and blood samples were screened.  ELISA achieved the highest (66%) positive rate of the samples from Kwale district and the lowest (23%) rate in Nakuru.  An overall positive prevalence of (43%) for fasciolosis was achieved.  The faecal sedimentation test showed prevalence of 19%.  In both tests high prevalence were observed in Kwale and Kilifi districts.  ELSA was always positive when FST was positive but not the converse. The on-famr survey utilizing two reliable diagnostic tests was meant to improve on existing abattoir reports.  Both tests showed fair to good agreements.  The higher detection by ELISA might be due to deworming and other reasons.  It was concluded that on-farm surveys are better than retrogressive studies; thought the latter are cheaper and faster.,  the current prevalence of fasciolosis are different from past reports with coastal showing higher than expected prevalences.

Bovine foscioliosis coused by F. giganticais widespread in   There is a large collection of reports of fasciolosis in Kenya based on  abattoir data records from veterinary investigation laboratories (VILS) as well as reports on a few farm study was carried out to improve on the reports. 
Diagnosis of fasciola infection has traditionally been based on detection of typical eggs in the faeces.  A variety of other techniques are now available eg enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), which has shown to be sensitive and useful.
Three agro-ecological zoned were defined depending on the reported prevalence; high risk, medium risk and low risk zones.  Two study districts were picked at random from each zone.  The study farms were selected using the two stage cluster sampling.
Faecal and blood samples were collected on the farm.  Serum was later harvested.  ELISA and faecal sedimatation tests (FST) were carried out.
A total of 2434 faecal and blood samples were screened.  ELISA achieved the highest (66%) positive rate of the samples from Kwale district and the lowest (23%) rate in Nakuru.  An overall positive prevalence of (43%) for fasciolosis was achieved.  The faecal sedimentation test showed prevalence of 19%.  In both tests high prevalence were observed in Kwale and Kilifi districts.  ELSA was always positive when FST was positive but not the converse.
The on-famr survey utilizing two reliable diagnostic tests was meant to improve on existing abattoir reports.  Both tests showed fair to good agreements.  The higher detection by ELISA might be due to deworming and other reasons.  It was concluded that on-farm surveys are better than retrogressive studies; thought the latter are cheaper and faster.,  the current prevalence of fasciolosis are different from past reports with coastal showing higher than expected prevalences.