Referendum Poll: 'Yes' maintains lead

The Yes camp, which is pushing for the adoption of the proposed Constitution at the referendum, has maintained a steady lead in the latest opinion poll released Friday.

The Strategic Research survey shows that 66 per cent of Kenyans will vote in favour of the document while 20 per cent will reject it.

These numbers represent 82pc of Kenyans who reported having made up their minds which way to vote.

With only five days to the August 4 vote, nine per cent said they were undecided and a further five per cent said they will not vote.

A survey released by the same research firm two weeks ago put the Yes vote at 62pc, with 20 per cent saying they will reject it altogether. Eighteen per cent of the voters were undecided.

Of those polled, 63.5pc expressed confidence that the referendum will be a peaceful affair.

A majority of Kenyans, 75pc, said they had read the proposed Constitution, while 24pc reported having not read the document and one per cent gave no response.

Of those intending to vote, 66pc said the proposed Constitution was a good document that needed some amendments, while 26pc said the proposed law was good and needs no amendments. Only two per cent cited it was a bad document altogether.

Kenyans cited the Bill of Rights (16,3pc), land (14.9pc) and devolved government (13.7pc) as the most attractive provisions in the proposed Constitution, while 23.8pc said the issues of abortion, land (18pc) and kadhi courts (13.4pc) should be reviewed.

Nyanza and Central provinces had the highest incidence of the Yes vote a 86pc and 75pc respectively, while Rift Valley reported the highest incidence of the No vote at 34pc followed by Eastern at 33pc.

A whopping 87pc said they would accept the results of the referendum irrespective of which side carries the day, with only seven per cent saying they will reject the results if their favoured side is defeated.

Of those who took part in the survey, 66.1pc said Cabinet ministers opposed to the proposed Constitution should continue in office. Some 27.4pc said the ministers should be sacked for opposing the government position.

Ministers William Ruto (Higher Education), Samuel Poghisio (Information) and Naomi Shaban (Special Programmes) are in the No camp.

The survey was conducted between July 26-28 with a sample size of 2,400 respondents countrywide.