By Moses Michira

More than half of Kenyans feel they are poorer than they were five years ago — pointing to a failure by the Government to help ordinary folk in wealth creation, a new survey reveals.

A study by research firm Ipsos Synovate on a sample of 2,000 respondents found only a quarter of the population think their economic condition has improved since 2007 while  18 per cent felt their condition had not changed.

The spillover effects of the 2008 post-election violence on productivity and harsh weather conditions are among the key factors that have contributed to the perception among the 56 per cent who feel their economic condition had worsened.

“The findings are not a surprise if you compare the last five years with the five years before that when Kenya experienced sustained economic growth rate reaching 7.1 per cent in 2007,” says Margaret Ireri, the managing director of Ipsos Synovate.

The findings of the survey could serve as a scorecard for the Coalition Government during whose tenure most households have been punished by high food prices, soaring energy costs and a sharp depreciation of the local currency in 2011.

Inflation, which is a measure of relative cost of living, touched a high of 19.72 per cent in November last year as a result of the three factors.

The survey reveals a major disconnect between the size of the national budget which has more than doubled to over Sh1.45 trillion in the five year period, with most public expenditure going into the productive sectors of infrastructure development.

Essentially, a better road network across the country had failed to translate into a cheaper life for most households.

The results also show a close relationship between the growth of the entire economy compared to the financial position of individual households.

Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product growth rate increased from 1.5 per cent in 2008 to 2.7 per cent in 2009, and rose 5.8 per cent in 2009 before recording a slower rate of 4.4 per cent in 2011.

Official estimates project that the economy will grow at a much lower rate this year of between 3.5 per cent and 4.5 per cent, partly due to high lending rates in the banking sector in the first half of 2012.

Ms Ireri says the political risk associated with the 2013 general elections was likely to dampen the country’s economic expansion.