Three in every five Kenyans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, a new survey by polling firm Infotrak indicates.
The survey shows 65 percent of Kenyans don’t approve of the direction the country is taking, citing the high cost of living, unemployment, and the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Infotrak, three in five Kenyans (62 percent) see Covid-19 as a personal finance issue rather than a personal health issue. Only nine percent of Kenyans see the pandemic as a personal health issue.
Another three in five(61 percent) said the move by the government to lift the Covid-19 tax relief measures in December last year made the cost of living extremely high.
51 percent of those interviewed said the poor state of the economy, even as the government continues to borrow heavily to finance its needs, were the reasons they believed the country was heading in the wrong direction.
According to Infotrak, 48 percent of Kenyans want the Government to urgently address the state of the economy.
The survey also showed that three in 10 Kenyans closed businesses because of the pandemic, 28 percent no longer had an income, 17 percent had their salaries slashed, six percent were unable to buy food, while another two percent were unable to pay rent, support relatives or send money to their dependents.
“The feeling by a majority of Kenyans is that the economy is not being handled well, coupled by the accelerating number of the unemployed, issues like bad politics and even the management of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Ms Angela Ambitho, the Infotrak managing director said.
“The high cost of living and unemployment are the issues Kenyans want urgently addressed by the government,” she added.
28 percent of Kenyans believe the country is heading in the right direction, citing peace in the country, while 10 percent were of the view that the economy was doing well.
Infotrak conducted the survey between March 13 and March 16, sampling 1,000 Kenyans in 30 counties from all of the country’s eight regions.
