•Nearly three-quarters of Kenyans surveyed, 72 per cent, believe the country is headed in the wrong direction.
• A number said BBI was a distraction in the face of Covid and smaller number cited 'betrayal of DP William Ruto.
Image: PSCU
Mounting public debt, economic hardships and increased corruption are among the issues soiling President Uhuru Kenyatta's legacy, a Tifa poll suggests.
The country’s public debt stood at Sh7.3 trillion as of January and has grown multiple times in Uhuru's Jubilee administration.
Kenyans surveyed said the high cost of living, unemployment, hunger and famine, poverty and Covid-19 are among the challenges facing them.
The survey by Tifa released on Tuesday
further reveals the President will also be remembered, although to a lesser extent, for 'betraying' Deputy President William Ruto.
At least 18 per cent of Kenyans cited increased public debt as the main negative aspects of the President’s legacy, 17 per cent cited economic hardships and 11 per cent increased corruption.
“Rather fewer mentioned more explicitly governance and political issues, such as constitutional violations, betrayal of his DP and undermining of his political party,” Tifa research analyst Tom Wolf said in the survey report.
At least four per cent of those interviewed by Tifa said they will remember the President for the frosty relationship with his boss.
The survey also said many Kenyans will remember the President for completing and launching key infrastructure projects such as the SGR and trunk roads.
At least 47 per cent of those polled said President Kenyatta has made great strides in boosting the country’s infrastructure.
“Most Kenyans, by far, consider infrastructure as the most positive accomplishment for which the President will be remembered,” Wolf said.
Many Kenyans also said they will remember the President for violation of his oath, disobedience of court orders and by extension the Constitution.
Others said they would remember him for destroying the Jubilee Party (two per cent), poor handling of the Covid-19 response and for supporting the handshake.
Nearly one-third were unable to identify any negative aspect of the President’s legacy, while others were either unsure about this or were not willing to answering the question.
The poll conducted between June 24 and June 28, 2021 involved 1,550 respondents with a margin of error of +/- 2 per cent.
Kenyans have given a harsh verdict of the President’s administration, with 72 per cent, saying the country is headed in the wrong direction.
“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),” the survey report reads.
The Coast region had more residents saying the country is headed the wrong way at 77 per cent, followed by Western (76 per cent), Nairobi (75 per cent), Central (73 per cent) and Eastern (73 per cent).
Nyanza rated at 69 per cent followed by Rift Valley (68 per cent), with Northeastern giving a 65 per cent rating.
Apart from infrastructure, Uhuru’s other flagship accomplishments appear to have been received without much enthusiasm by the majority of Kenyans.
Of those polled, 10 per cent said President Kenyatta would be remembered for enhancing national cohesion through his handshake with ODM leader Raila Odinga.
Four per cent of those polled said extending electricity connectivity was a positive achievement, with some two per cent citing jobs and financial support for the youth, elderly, disabled persons and students.
Tifa said there is considerable time left for the President’s legacy to be more precisely defined — nearly a full year until the end of his second term.
“This will be even if not all the factors that determine such a legacy are subject to his direct control or even indirect influence,” the researchers said.
The team led by Wolf says it would be unrealistic to expect that there will ever be an agreed ‘verdict’ on the incumbency of President Kenyatta.
He said this would be “especially so in a country such as Kenya where citizens enjoy the freedom to disagree and to do so loudly, in public.”
Tifa said the prevailing economic hardship is the cause for the moderate support for the BBI proposals, which are seen as less of a priority, "and even a distraction".
The researchers argue BBI is seen as a diversion as most Kenyans grapple with the economic distress posed by Covid-19 and the restrictions to control its spread.
On the direction the country is taking, 14 per cent of those polled were in the middle ground, while just over one in 10 – 12 per cent, said they believed the country was on the right path.
The 12 per cent cited the Uhuru administration's 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.
(Edited bu V. Graham)