Kenyans rank devolution as best benefit of the 2010 constitution as the country is set to mark the
sixth anniversary of the new dispensation on Saturday.
A survey released on Friday by Infotrak showed that 51 per cent feel devolution has had the biggest impact in their lives.
"Other than devolution, the top two benefits that Kenyans associate with the 2010 constitution are improved individual rights and freedoms at 33 per cent and enhanced democracy at 17 per cent," Infotrak CEO Angela Ambitho said while releasing the results at the Safari Club, Nairobi.
Improved leadership and integrity was ranked at 16 per cent, land reforms and the establishment of constitutional commissions at 14 per cent each. This was followed by judicial reforms at 13 per cent.
Regionally, North Eastern had the highest number of people who said devolution has benefitted them the most at 65 per cent followed by Eastern at 62 per cent, Central 43 per cent and Rift Valley at 50 per cent.
The poll was conducted between May 31 and June 8 2016 where 1500 respondents were interviewed using focus group discussions and open-ended questions.
The data was collected through face to face household interviews across all the counties and had a margin error of +/- 2.5 and a 95 per cent degree of confidence.
According to the study, the worst performing areas under the constitution are electoral reforms (12.2 per cent), executive reforms (11.6 per cent) and legislative reforms (7.8 per cent).
The study also revealed that 13 per cent of Kenyans feel the current constitution has had no benefits to them since nothing has changed for the better.
“These Kenyans have seen no marked improvement in their lives or in their environments since the new constitution was enacted in 2010. In their view, the country has maintained a status quo,” said Ambitho.
In terms of the implementation of the constitution, an overwhelming majority, 81 per cent feel the current constitution is important to them as opposed to 14 per cent who say it is not important.
A mere 5 per cent said they have no idea whether it is important or not.
The report, however, said that only 18 per cent of Kenyans are satisfied with the implementation process of the constitution.
Some 29 per cent are not satisfied while 5 per cent said they have not heard enough about devolution.
The remaining number of Kenyans, (48 per cent) are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the implementation process.
Those keen on the constitution named devolution, national security and leadership and integrity as the three key priority areas the implementation process should continue focusing on.
On the flip side, the survey showed that almost half of Kenyans felt that various important aspects of the constitution are under threat.
These include right to peaceful demonstration at 47 per cent, devolution at 45 per cent, public participation in the legislative process at 43 per cent and freedom of the media at 42 per cent.
The majority of those who fall in this category mentioned the amendment of laws to give the president more powers in the appointment of the Inspector general, Chief Justice and other senior judges as violations of the constitution.
The other reasons given were when laws are amended to restrict peoples’ rights and freedoms for security reasons, amendments to increase county budgetary allocations and amendments to reduce elective and appointive positions.
"Kenyans who hold this view feel leaders amend laws because they don’t understand them or they are just taking advantage of peoples’ ignorance," said Ambitho.
Other key revelations of the study were that 73 per cent of Kenyans finds public participation difficult, 76 per cent find it difficult to influence county decision-making, 74 per cent find it difficult to access information on county budgets, legislation, and project plans while 78 per cent find it difficult to participate in the amendment of county and national laws.
"Only 10 per cent are satisfied with public participation in their counties, another 34 per cent are neither satisfied or dissatisfied while six per cent said there is no public participation in their county," said Ambitho.