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UN-HABITAT's experiences in the Lake Victoria region and Sub-Saharan Africa show that the underlying causes of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and its consequences on urban development must be urgently and comprehensively addressed. The epidemic affects all sectors of urban development, including housing, transportation, water, and access to health services. Development agencies, whose mission is urban development, have thus started to recognise that achieving their objectives is difficult without addressing and mitigating the impact of the epidemic. A comprehensive policy and programming is required to mitigate both the spread and the effects of the epidemic. Consequently, UN-HABITAT, working with partners and city authorities around Lake Victoria, has embarked on an HIV/AIDS mainstreaming strategy in its Slum Upgrading and Poverty Reduction programme. Related activities and lessons are presented.

The purpose of this research is to examine the foreign exchange exposure of listed companies on the Ghana Stock Exchange over the period January 1999 to December 2004. The research uses different exchange rate measures namely; the cedi to US dollar, the cedi to UK pound sterling, the cedi to the euro and a trade‐weighted exchange rate index to determine the degree of exposure.

The Jorion (1990) two‐factor model which regresses the return on a firm against changes in the exchange rate and return on the market is used to estimate the exchange rate exposure for the sample of twenty firms used in this study.

About 55 per cent of firms in the sample have a statistically significant exposure to the US dollar whilst 35 per cent are statistically exposed to the UK pound sterling. Sector specific exposure results show that the manufacturing and retail sectors are significantly exposed to the US dollar exchange rate risk. The financial sector did not show any risk exposure to any of the international currencies. The most dominant source of exchange rate risk exposure is the US dollar. Most firms are also negatively exposed to the cedi to US dollar exchange rate changes, implying that the cedi depreciation vis‐à‐vis the US dollar adversely affects firm returns.

The study reveals the extent of foreign exchange exposure of firms in Ghana and also adds to the limited body of empirical literature on exchange rate exposure of firms in Africa. Results of this study serve as a useful guide to corporate managers and investors on the degree of foreign exchange exposure and the need to effectively manage firm exposure.

Internal control systems are critical to an organization's efficiency and promotes the adherence to norms and rules. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of internal control systems on banking industry effectiveness.

Data were collected from 15 commercial and 20 rural banks. The hypothesized relationships were supported by the data. A structural equation modeling was applied in testing the conceptual model and hypothesis. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to establish validity and reliability of the dimensions.

The results show that organizational effectiveness was significantly impacted by three dimensions of internal control systems: control activities, control environments and risk assessment. However, the impact of monitoring of control on organizational effectiveness was not significant. The results also show a nonsignificant impact of information and communication on organizational effectiveness.

Since the current study concentrated on the banking sector with its distinct characteristics, the generalizability of the conclusions may be limited.

The study's findings may aid decision-makers and stakeholders in the adoption, designing and implementation of proactive internal control system to enhance operational efficiency, effectiveness and competitive advantage.

The study advances the literature by empirically evidencing that internal control systems impact organizational effectiveness.

This paper aims to examine how telecommunications in Kenya was affected by the absence of good governance and the presence of rent-seeking by ministers.

A single-country case study combining approaches of anti-corruption and telecommunications methodologies using secondary and legal sources.

Corruption has been a significant factor, but has also led to distortions in the market which may have been more significant.

Given the sensitivity of corrupt dealing, it is impracticable to interview the principals, some of whose identities are concealed behind front companies.

It is necessary to modify telecommunications practice to eliminate the use of front companies and those registered in opaque registries to identify conflicts of interests.

This is one of only four countries examined in terms of bribery and corruption in telecommunications.