Poll: Kenyans losing faith in Uhuru-Ruto leadership

Kenyans' confidence in the leadership of President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto, has dropped significantly in the last three months, a new survey has shown.

According to the third quarter survey conducted between August and October by Ipsos, President Kenyatta's confidence ratings have dropped from 52 per cent to 35 per cent, while that of Mr Ruto dropped to 28 per cent from 34 per cent.

"Over the last two years, these confidence ratings now stand at the lowest since May 2014, when Uhuru and Ruto ratings were 32 per cent and 27 per cent respectively," explained Hilda Kiritu, the Ipsos public affairs director.

She added that the up and down movement during the two-year period suggested how responsive the confidence ratings are to unfolding events as opposed to permanent loyalty-evaluations based on political parties.

As expected, the two top government leaders are rated highly by members of their coalition, with 61 per cent and 50 per cent of the respondents allied to Jubilee coalition and its affiliate parties giving the President and his deputy approval respectively.

Pegged on performance, an overwhelming 73 per cent of supporters of Jubilee are of the view that Uhuru has performed exceptionally well in the last three months. On the other hand, only 20 per cent of CORD members hold similar views.

"It is worth noting that nearly four times as many Jubilee supporters give him (Kenyatta) such approval as do those of CORD with 20 per cent," reads the report released by Ipsos yesterday.

"Conversely, three times as many of CORD supporters disapprove Uhuru's performance over this period. This proportion being more than double what it was in August 2015 (75 per cent vs 39 per cent among CORD supporters)," it explains.

According to Ipsos, the survey findings are an accurate reflection of the situation at the time it was conducted and it did not factor in recent events that may likely affect the results of the opinion poll.

The recent events that may affect the perception of Kenyans that were not factored include the resignation of Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru and the prosecution of high-ranking Government officials among others.