IPSOS: Majority of Kenyans say country headed in wrong direction

Ipsos research analyst Tom Wolf.  [PHOTO:WILBERFORCE OKWIRI/Standard]

A recent report by Ipsos research firm has indicated that at least seven out of ten Kenyans are convinced that the country is heading in the wrong direction.

Civil servants are among the big lot of Kenyans frustrated with the outcome of the President Uhuru Kenyatta led Jubilee government, according to the survey.

This has been blamed on the high cost of living, corruption, leadership and employment issues.

Out of the lot that make 71 per cent of Kenyans frustrated with the country's leadership, civil servants are among them at 66 per cent.

When the same question on the country's direction was asked to students, the figure was even high at 76 per cent, 74 among the casual labourers, 71 on peasant farmers, 71 on private sector, 70 on the self-employed and the unemployed.

High cost of living is however the most burning issue across board as mentioned by 68 per cent which has been attributed by high inflation rate of 11.4 per cent.

Supporters of the National Super Alliance (NASA) are however the extremely unhappy lot with 91 per cent claiming the country is heading in the very wrong direction compared to Jubilee at 52 per cent.

Only 31 per cent of Jubilee supporters believe the country is heading in the right direction.

"For a government that has been in power for five years, this should be a concern though we know there are many aspects that determine the country's direction not under their control," noted Ipsos lead researcher Dr Tom Wolf.

The figures were no different when broken down to regional level as Central had a polarised number with 41 per cent saying the country is headed in the right direction while 43 thought otherwise.

Nyanza region had the highest number of individuals with 'wrong direction' opinion at 92 per cent followed by Western 85, Coast 79, Eastern 67, Rift Valley and Nairobi 72 and North Eastern 51.

Of those who were of the opinion that the country is headed in the 'right direction', the reasons given were infrastructure, leadership and education.

In their latest release where 2,026 Kenyans across 46 counties were polled between May 11 and 23, Ipsos asked Kenyans across the political divide if there has been any economic improvement in their lives in the previous three months.

Wolf said when the results were filtered across the two political sides, there was almost no difference.

"Three-quarters of Kenyans (76 per cent) report a deterioration in their household economic conditions, with only a minor contrast between supporters of Jubilee and Nasa in this regard (72 vs 79 per cent respectively)," the survey read.

 

Wolf said this was evident that everyone from the wealthiest to the lowest paid has felt the pinch of the high cost of living.

"When you hear the opposition fighting the government over high cost of living, they do not need these figures to do so. Interestingly, whether the economic conditions are good or bad, it does not strongly determine the voting patterns," explained Wolf.

And under the same period of three months, when Kenyans were asked to rate President Uhuru's performance, 49 per cent disapproved against 46 per cent who approved.

Across political divide, 74 per cent of Jubilee supporters approved of the President's performance, 79 per cent of NASA disapproved.