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Half of Kenyans unhappy with running of counties
Mr Samuel Kimeu, the executive director at Transparency International, Kenya. If you split sub-Sahara Africa into two, these are the more honest countries, beginning with the cleanest: 1. Botswana, 2. Cape Verde, 3. Seychelles, 4. Mauritius. FILE PHOTO |
What you need to know:
- Study uncovered lack of awareness of county operations and participation in public activities
About 53 per cent of Kenyans are dissatisfied with the way the affairs of counties are being run by their respective governments, an opinion poll by Transparency International indicates.
The survey also indicates that it was only 18 per cent of Kenyans who were satisfied with the county governments, while 28 per cent were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.
More than 54 per cent attributed their dissatisfaction to lack of visible development as a result of devolution, while 19 per cent were discontented because campaign promises were yet to be fulfilled.
The survey interviewed 1,993 respondents in 16 counties between April and May 2013. The data was collected through questionnaires administered face-to-face to randomly selected households.
The poll, dubbed "Is it my business? A national opinion poll on devolution and governance," said that only 15 per cent of Kenyans have participated in citizen consultation forums at the county level in the last 12 months.
LIMITED AWARENESS
It further stated that only 38 per cent of Kenyans had heard about the forums, demonstrating that the county governments had not done enough to broaden channels of communication to publicise such forums and engage with the public.
The majority of the respondents said they had not contacted any of their leaders in the past 12 months. Members of county assemblies (MCAs) were the most contacted, at 21 per cent, followed by MPs, at 13 per cent. The interaction was reported to be largely at social gatherings.
At the county level, poverty, unemployment, infrastructure development and insecurity were cited as the most pressing problems identified by the respondent while at national level, 52 per cent named insecurity as the most pressing problem with unemployment and poverty following at 18 per cent.
TI- Kenya executive director Samuel Kimeu said that limited awareness of key county processes and resource allocation reduced the capacity of Kenyans to track how resources are used and hold leaders to account.
“The current constitution lays emphasis on citizen participation especially in crucial processes, such as budget making,” said Mr Kimeu during the launch of the opinion poll in Nairobi.
