Govt’s performance in infrastructure development rated as satisfactory

The government’s performance in addressing educational needs, maintaining roads and bridges, and improving basic health services has been rated as satisfactory with a 60 per cent score by the recently released Afrobarometer Round 9 Survey.

The survey sought to get Kenyans view on elections, trust in institutions and the most important problems facing them such as unemployment, crime and insecurity and governance.

According to the survey, rural residents are more concerned about the delivery of public services and food shortages as opposed to their urban counterparts who are more concerned about political rights and ethnic tensions.

Afrobarometer National Investigator and Associate Director Prof. Paul Kamau stated that having successfully completed eight survey rounds in up to 39 African countries, the project seeks to encompass 53 countries ultimately.

“Our goal is to give the public a voice in policymaking by providing high-quality public opinion data to policymakers, policy advocates, civil society organizations, academics, news media, donors and investors and ordinary Africans,” said Kamau.

Delivering the presentation in great detail, the Director noted that the survey was conducted through face to face interviews, standard questionnaires, a national representative sample of adult citizens and fieldwork between 12^th and 30^th November 2021.

Kamau cited that as the country gears up for the August election, the ability to address socio-economic issues are key.

Regarding election preparedness and political parties, Afrobarometer Co-National Investigator Dr Oscar Otele mentioned that 78% of Kenyans said that the country needs many political parties to ensure that voters have real choices.

In addition, he noted that 63% of Kenyans do not mind one party always winning and governing the country as long as people vote in a free and fair election, while 49% of citizens say they feel close to a political party down from 65% in 2014.

Otele also added that a large majority of Kenyans say a public health emergency like Covid-19 does not justify postponing the election.

“Although the youth constitute the largest voting bloc in Kenya, voter turnout remains lowest among them,” said Otele, while appealing to youth to turn out in large numbers for the August election.