All through the week, there has been a lot of talk and arguments about the disclosure that Uhuru Kenyatta came third in an opinion poll to determine top African presidents.
There are those who, of course, dispute the results. Simply put, there have been widespread allegations of rigging. Indeed, say those not appeased, Uhuru or his functionaries could have infiltrated Gallup and doctored or sponsored a change of the results.
Then there are those who have swallowed the entire poll result, hook line and sinker. No consideration, no analysis. Uhuru was number three, that's all they need to know.
To be honest, I know of Ipsos-Synnovate, Octopus and other pollsters. But I've never heard of this Gallup company or pollsters or whatever they are. I however think they did some very tidy and honest work with this opinion poll.
To understand my view, let's not take the poll out of context and see why the son of Jomo could have come third. This poll was conducted one year ago. That's right. It was conducted in August 2013 when Uhuru was barely four months in office.
In the period right after the 2013 General Election, it is worth noting that TNA and Jubilee embarked on a charged PR campaign to win the trust of the people. For a short time in the history of Jubilee's existence, a number of Kenyans actually believed Jubilee and Uhuru could deliver on their election promises.
The momentum Jubilee may have supposedly gained on the campaign trail may have also lingered a little longer into the time the poll was conducted.
It is also worth noting that at the time, Uhuru and his team were busy lobbying for their criminal cases at the ICC to be deferred,terminated or whatever it is they wanted. This made Uhuru very conspicuous among other African presidents even as the African Union went all out against the ICC.
Kenya was also still relatively calm, peaceful and bearable, riding on the success of the grand coalition government.
Bearing these circumstances in mind, it is imaginable that Uhuru could have indeed come at position three. I'm tempted to indicate the approval rating percentage but I'd laugh so hard that I would not finish writing this article. I personally don't see Mr Kenyatta's approval ratings reach 60% let alone 70% *even with medicine (Direct translation)*
Opinion polls and all other polls as everything else in any society, are subject to rapidly changing dynamics. That's why they may not hold true for long depending on the prevailing circumstances. They may also not hold true and reflective the currently prevailing conditions at the time.
If the current public outrage in Kenya is anything to go by, I find myself believing that Uhuru would rank very poorly if a poll was held today.
I can comfortably say that some 70% or so of Kenyans are currently fed up with Uhuru's administration. This general public feeling has been contributed to largely by inflation and a rise in the cost of living. Basic necessities such as food are now beyond the reach of many ordinary Kenyans owing to Uhuru's policy failures.
While a number of families have resorted to one meal a day, others like in Baringo are literally starving to death although Uhuru's government has indicated little to no concern.
In the same breath is Uhuru administration's failure to facilitate job creation. As a result, a large number of the youth are jobless and disgruntled with Uhuru.
Then there comes the issue of insecurity which Uhuru's government has failed to address conclusively and transparently. The government has even been accused of masterminding attacks to divert people's attention from their failures at governance, corruption and the ICC cases.
One other item is the failures of Uhuru to address the land menace in Kenya and especially at the coast conclusively and transparently by implementing the TJRC and Ndung'u reports. Instead, Uhuru has resorted to old tricks invented by KANU to fool coastal residents.
Factors cited here and many more are currently bogging down Uhuru's presidency and if a poll were to be conducted today, I think he'd come second last only beating Salva Kiir of South Sudan with a few points.
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