This is a change from Infotrak’s previous two polls this year which cited the high cost of living as the most prevalent reason behind the wrong direction the country was taking.
A new survey by Infotrak Research has revealed that Kenyans have attributed bad politics and poor governance as the biggest reason the country is headed in the wrong direction.
The report released on Friday, October 11 revealed that the aforementioned reason was more prevalent than the likes of the high cost of living, unemployment, rampant corruption in the country, poor infrastructure and poverty.
This is a change from Infotrak’s previous two polls this year which cited the high cost of living as the most prevalent reason behind the wrong direction the country was taking.
64 percent of Kenyans named bad politics and poor governance as the reason for their stand this time round whereas 43 percent of the respondents said the high cost of living was their reason to believe the country is headed in the wrong direction.
Comparison of reasons Kenya is heading in the wrong direction. /INFOTRAK
Other reasons were unemployment (22 percent), rampant corruption (19 percent), poor infrastructure (12 percent), poverty (nine percent), tribalism (eight percent), extrajudicial killings (seven percent) and poor quality of education (five percent).
Additional reasons were state abductions, lack of cohesion and unequal distribution of resources (four percent each), insecurity (two percent), wrong societal values (two percent), protests (two percent), poor healthcare (one percent), impeachment of Deputy President (one percent) and new university funding model (0.2 percent).
The fact that Kenyans have blamed bad politics and poor governance the most for Kenya’s wrong direction speaks loudly about the trajectory of the political scene in the country and the state of Kenya’s governance given that it is three years to the next general elections in 2027, and two years since President William Ruto’s administration took power.
From word on the streets, both online and offline, Kenyans have read malice on the current political scene, terming events such as the impeachment motion against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua which is live in Parliament, as a ploy to distract Kenyans from demanding better from their leaders and opposing questionable deals, such as the Adani deal to lease the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) for three decades.
Generally, 73 percent of Kenyans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, a significant increase from 50 percent recorded in September, while only 11 percent noted that it is headed in the right direction compared to 19 percent that opined so in September, perhaps another reason why Kenyans are dissatisfied with the poor governance leading up to this point.
In May 2024, 63 percent shared the same response (Wrong Direction). In the previous year, in September 2023, 53 percent reported that the country was headed in the wrong direction.
By region, the areas that had the highest rating in reporting that the country is headed in the wrong direction are Nairobi (78%), North Eastern (77%), Central and Eastern each at (76%), and Rift Valley at (72%).
“A significant percentage of both males (73%) and females (73%) noted that the country is headed in the wrong direction,” stated Infotrak in part.
Those between the age bracket of (46-55 years) had the highest rating (81%) in terms of reporting that the country is headed in the wrong direction, followed by (27-35 years) at (76%) and those aged (36-45 years) stood at (74%).
How Was Infotrak’s Survey Done?
The survey was carried out on October 9, 2024, and quantitative interviews were carried out through Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI).
The margin of error was ±3.099 per cent at 95 per cent degree of confidence. The survey covered all the eight regions of Kenya.
The research firm noted that the survey was conducted across all the regions of the country, and the distribution of the sample size was proportionally allocated.
