Kenyans don’t trust fellow countrymen, UNDP report shows

Kenyans attend a political rally. A UNDP report has revealed that only 40 per
cent have faith in the National government. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

NAIROBI, KENYA: The vast majority of Kenyans do not trust fellow countrymen while only 40 per cent have faith in the National government, a UN Human Development Report 2014 released last month in Tokyo, Japan has revealed.

When asked whether one has to be careful while dealing with others, only 10 per cent of Kenyans said they have faith in fellow citizens. The report which ranks Kenya 147th out of 186 countries on a global scale of human development indicators shows the country's social and economic growth to have stagnated since 2010.

Compared to neigbouring countries, Kenyans come out as extremely distrustful, with almost 20 and 30 per cent of Ugandans and Tanzanians saying they can readily trust their fellow countrymen in any deal.

Measured against the global scale, distrust among Kenyans ranks quite highly with only a handful countries beating the country including Syria, Cambodia, Palestine and Lebanon.

The issue of security also came up. Only half of Kenyans interviewed said they feel safe walking alone at night in their places of residence. While the report does not go into explaining why some people do not have confidence in their government, one issue that came up was the feeling of being excluded from productive activities.

The UNDP's Director at the Regional Bureau for Africa Abdoulaye Mar Dieye said in a statement that Africa now needs responsive and accountable institutions of governance to address injustices and exclusion that can fuel social discontent. "It will also be important to deliver services to all populations equitably," he says.

Sub-Saharan Africa, the report records, had the second highest rate of progress in the Human Development Index since 2002 but unfortunately, it is also the most unequal region in the world.

Rwanda and Ethiopia are indicated to have achieved the fastest growth during the period followed by Angola, Burundi, Mali, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.

Kenya also, the report shows seemed to have been heading the same direction with these top achievers after recording impressive growth between 2002 and 2010, but seemed to have stagnated since then.

The report shows Africa as having the world's highest disparities in health, gender inequalities in income, educational attainment and access to reproductive health services. Only about half of Kenyans are shown to be satisfied with health care available to them while a third said they were satisfied with the standards of living. The UN body now wants governments in the region to create more jobs, offer citizens social protection if they are to secure the already attained development gains.