High cost of living, unemployment, corruption, pandemic,cited as causes for alarm.


• A new survey report released Tuesday by Tifa cites the high cost of living, unemployment, political issues, corruption, the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, and public debt as the causes for alarm.

• The poll involving 1,550 respondents, with a margin of error of +/- 2 per cent, that was conducted between June 24 and June 28, 2021, covered economic, political, and social welfare issues.
Nearly three-quarters of Kenyans, at least 72 per cent, believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction, putting President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration on the spot.

A new survey report released Tuesday by Tifa cites the high cost of living, unemployment, political issues, corruption, the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, and public debt as the causes for alarm.

“The overwhelming perception of Kenyans as to the country’s current challenges are economic, specifically, the cost-of-living and unemployment (both at 27 per cent),” Tifa research analyst Tom Wolf says in the survey.
“Covid-19, which has both health and economic aspects, also receives considerable mentions at 16 per cent but other economic issues (poverty, hunger/famine) are also identified.”

The poll involving 1,550 respondents, with a margin of error of +/- 2 per cent, that was conducted between June 24 and June 28, 2021, covered economic, political, and social welfare issues.

In regional terms, more residents of North Eastern gave a positive assessment on this matter at 24 per cent with Central and Coast giving the least rating.

Some 14 per cent of those polled were in the middle ground while just over one in 10 said they believed the country was on the right path.

The lot cited Uhuru’s administration effective management of the Covid-19 emergency response, better infrastructure, education, cost of living, political issues and employment.

“At the same time, even after stating their satisfaction with the country’s current direction, a substantial proportion – 13 per cent, were unable to cite any reason for holding this view,” the survey reads.

Kenyans feel that the high cost of living, unemployment, hunger and famine, poverty, and Covid-19 are among the challenges facing them.
“There is even more agreement about the presence of economic challenges at the local level, with the top four mentions - unemployment, the cost-of-living, hunger/famine and poverty, in total attracting a clear majority of all responses – at 64 per cent,” the survey report reads.

“Other issues such as Covid-19, water supply and crime receive far fewer mentions – at 14 per cent in total, with several other issues attracting even less attention.”

A regional variation played out in instances of how Covid-19 is the main problem or challenge facing most people in their locality.

In this regard, residents of Nyanza were five times more concerned with this issue than those of Coast, with North Eastern not citing it as a challenge at all.

“Evidently, such heightened concern in western regions reflects the recent spike in cases there, reportedly as a result of the arrival and spread of the more aggressive Delta variant,” the report reads.