By Peter Ochieng
Majority of Kenyans have voiced concern over the direction the country is headed economically, under President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza administration.
According to results of poll conducted by research firm, Infotrak, 63 percent of Kenyans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, while only 19 percent of the respondents think the country is on the right track.
This means the number of Kenyans who are not happy with the direction the country is headed, has actually increased by 10 percent within a year.
16 percent of Kenyans feel the country has neither taken the right nor the wrong turn, while 2 percent did not settle on any choice.
At 74 percent, majority of Nairobians think Kenya is not on the right track. They are followed by Eastern residents at 69 percent, Nyanza residents at 68 per cent, Western with 64 percent, and Central at 63 percent.
61 percent of Coast residents think the country is headed in the wrong direction, while 54 percent in Rift Valley, President William Ruto’s political bedrock, and 47 percent in North Eastern region share similar sentiments.
The survey was conducted between May 23 to 29, through Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI) in all 47 counties, with 1,700 respondents aged above 18 years being contacted.
Predictably, the high cost of living took the lead at 49 percent among the top issues of concern to Kenyans. Unemployment at 30 percent is another pressing issue that Kenyans want addressed, by the government of the day.
Additionally, Kenyans are least bothered about public participation, owing to the disregard shown by those in authority of their views on major issues.
Infotrak’s research manager Johvine Wanyingo stated that many are of the opinion that since Parliament makes the final decisions on various issues, their opinions are meaningless.
“Before any policy is passed it has to be subjected to public participation process however in terms of issues Kenyans are no longer raising it as a major key issue of concern and we want to hypothesize this is because many times our leaders bulldoze they give opinion at public baraza but in the long run peoples opinion don’t matter,” Wanyingo said.
“Several elected leaders always say that in as much as people give their opinions the final decisions are made by the house where the majority takes the win when they vote for those decision.What really matters is the decision made by the house,” he added.
This comes as Kenyans and various stakeholders continue to share their views on the Finance Bill, 2024.
54 percent of those polled said they are aware of the Bill, while 46 percent said they are not aware. The Bill proposes among others, 16 percent VAT on bread, of which 87 percent of Kenyans reject, while only 3 percent are in support.