•Only 18 per cent on Kenyans think the country is on track, a two per cent increase from 16 per cent in December 2022
•When asked why they think the country is headed in the right direction, 44 per cent said it was because there is peace in the country
Image: FILE
The number of Kenyans who believe the country is headed in the wrong direction has continued to grow in 2023.
This is after the latest poll released by Infotrak Research and Consulting on Friday showed that 61 per cent of Kenyans feel the country is headed in the wrong direction.
This is a seven per cent increase from 55 per cent who said the country was headed in the wrong direction in December 2022.
The survey was conducted between December 18 and December 19 2023 among 1,500 respondents aged above 18 years from across all the 47 counties and eight regions of Kenya.
The survey which was conducted through Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CITI) has a +/- 2.53 per cent margin of error and a response rate of 94 per cent.
“Currently, three out of five Kenyans express unhappiness with the country’s current trajectory. This sentiment is particularly strong among 64 per cent of women and almost seven in 10 youth aged 18 to 25 years,” the report says.
“Notably, this sense of unease seems to permeate all regions. Over half of Kenyans in all eight regions surveyed now feel the country is off track with Nyanza and Western leading the pack at 72 per cent and 69 per cent respectively,” it adds.
According to the survey, only 18 per cent on Kenyans think the country is on track, a two per cent increase from 16 per cent in December 2022.
Seventeen per cent were indecisive on whether the country is headed in the right or wrong direction, a drop from 28 per cent last year while a small fraction refused to respond to the question.
Just 22 per cent of respondents in Rift Valley think the country is headed in the right direction while 55 per cent think otherwise.
Nairobi on the other hand has 62 per cent of respondents who think the country is off track, with the percentage being 62 per cent in the Coast and Eastern regions, 59 per cent in North Eastern and 53 per cent in Central.
When asked why they think the country is headed in the right direction, 44 per cent said it was because there is peace in the country while 33 per cent said the cost of living is affordable.
“While anxieties about Kenya’s trajectory may dominate the headlines, a different story unfolds for the 18 per cent who see the country on the right track,” the survey says.
“Their narrative isn’t driven by economic data or political storms, but by a quieter chorus of contentment,” it says.
Twenty-two percent of those who think the country is on track say it is because the executive is doing well, 18 per cent say education has improved, 15 per cent say devolution has made a difference while 13 per cent say the country has good infrastructure.
Another 12 per cent think the country is actively fighting corruption while another similar percentage is contented with the fact that their candidate is in power.