Factors affecting the effectiveness of preventing immigration-related offences in the Immigration Department in Kenya

Abstract

This study sought to establish the factors affecting the effective prevention of immigration offences in the Department of Immigration. To achieve this, the study was guided by the following objectives: to ascertain the prevalence of immigration offences in Kenya; to establish the extent to which staff development and deployment affect effective combating of immigration offences in Kenya; to determine how Inter Agency cooperation affect effective prevention of immigration offences in Kenya; and to investigate the effect of staff motivation on effective combating of immigration offences in Kenya. The study used descriptive research from data collected from 82 respondents and 7 key informants which was drawn from regional heads. Once the data was collected, they were cleaned, coded, entered and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The information thus generated was complimented by information obtained through interviews with key informants. These data have been presented in prose with the aid of tabular and graphical presentations. The study findings indicated that a number of factors affect the effective prevention of immigration offences in Kenya such as interference from other agencies; political interference; corruption; the lack of necessary resources to effectively discharge duties, lack of motivation from the employer and inadequate training of immigration officers in areas related to work in their stations. Lack of interagency cooperation largely affects relations at the Kenyan borders as a result of other agencies not acknowledging immigration as the lead agency in border management. The study strongly recommended that border management should be approached from an integral approach. Information sharing among stakeholders and joint initiatives should be adopted. The border should be viewed as an entity serving the interests of Kenyans.