Many Kenyans are forced to sleep hungry and constantly worry about the high cost of living and inflation, a new survey has shown.
Asked what they thought was the most serious problem facing Kenya today, 50 per cent of the respondents interviewed by research firm Ipsos Kenya said the cost of living was a serious issue while 19 per cent pointed out lack of employment.
Nine per cent said corruption was a major cause of worry while seven per cent said crime and insecurity were issues to worry about. Poor leadership, famine and tribalism polled at five, three, and two per cent respectively while surprisingly, only one per cent of Kenyans said they were concerned about the leadership wrangles due to ICC cases facing President Kenyatta, his Deputy William Ruto and journalist Joshua arap Sang.
The poll carried out between February 8 and 15 targeting 2,031 adults in both urban and rural areas, involved face to face interviews at household level.
While presenting the findings yesterday at the firm’s office in Nairobi, social political consultant Tom Wolf said the cost of living and inflation had remained a major worry since the last poll conducted late last year, with nothing changing much.
The poll showed that both the Jubilee Government and the opposition Cord supporters, agreed almost in equal measurethat inflation was at a worrying trend.
“Both Jubilee supporters (49 percent) and Cord (53 per cent) said the high cost of living was a worrying issue while poor households (55 per cent) also supported the same compared to wealthier ones at 44 per cent,” said Mr Wolf.
The poll also revealed that 26 per cent of Kenyans were still sleeping hungry with a majority, 37 per cent from Nyanza and 12 per cent from Central.
More people in rural areas (29 per cent) are sleeping hungry compared to 21 per cent in urban areas. Interestingly, 33 per cent of Cord supporters said they were sleeping hungry compared to Jubilee’s 18 per cent—the survey with a margin error of plus or minus 2.2 per cent revealed—while wealthier households are eating better than poorer ones.
According to the survey, 62 per cent of Kenyans feel things are generally going in the wrong direction compared to 64 per cent who gave the same answer in November last year.
Residents of Rift Valley (46 per cent) and Central (51 per cent), the two strongholds of the Jubilee Government felt things were going bad while in Nyanza—where the opposition has much support—a whopping 86 per cent felt the same.
Other areas where the same sentiment was shared included Western (77 per cent), Coast (79 per cent), Nairobi (74 per cent) and Eastern at 58 per cent.“This perception is obviously determined by which political glasses one is wearing,” said Mr Wolf adding that 83 per cent of Cord supporters felt things were generally going bad compared to 43 per cent of Jubilee supporters.
Asked whether during the last three months there has been any perceived general economic improvement in their households, 56 per cent said that had worsened while 26 per cent said their economic status remained the same.
A majority of Cord supporters (65 per cent) said their economic conditions had worsened compared to Jubilee’s 47 per cent.
Although a majority of Kenyans are ignorant on the knowledge of national population dynamics, a considerable number, (36 per cent) said at the current growth rate, it would be impossible to improve the economic conditions of ordinary Kenyans by 2040.
On voting, an overwhelming majority of Kenyans prefer walking into a polling station to cast their ballot instead of using their smart phones to vote.
Sixty per cent of Kenyans prefer to physically mark a ballot paperto choose their preferred candidates.On the other hand, 37 percent preferred voting via their mobile phones with another three per cent not being sure.
The poll further suggested that an individual’s marital status should not be used to gauge their ability to lead.
According to the poll, 81 per cent of the respondents were unanimous that whether an individual is married or not makes no difference in terms of their ability to understand and address the needs of their constituents.
Only 18 per cent of Kenyans were of the view that unmarriedmen or women were less able to understand and address the need of their constituents than married people.
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