Rising prices of goods, graft top among problems facing Kenyans
A customer samples out maize flour at a supermarket in Nairobi. Three out of every 10 Kenyans say that the rising prices of goods and services have made life more difficult. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- Three out of every 10 Kenyans surveyed said that the rising prices of goods and services have made life more difficult.
- Graft still ranks highly among the problems facing Kenyans, with approximately one in every five people citing it as a serious menace.
- A larger percentage of women than men cited inflation and the high cost of living as the most serious problem facing Kenya.
- Hunger and drought followed as the second most serious problem facing households.
Corruption is only second to the high cost of living among the problems that are facing Kenyans today, a new survey has revealed.
Three out of every 10 Kenyans surveyed said that the rising prices of goods and services have made life more difficult.
Graft still ranks highly among the problems facing Kenyans, with approximately one in every five people citing it as a serious menace.
The survey also revealed that Kenyans living in urban areas are more affected by corruption than their rural counterparts.
This is largely because most of the government offices, where corruption is notoriously rampant, are located in the urban centres.
The study was conducted by Sauti ya Wananchi between September 23 and October 11, through computer aided telephone interviews of some 1,739 respondents.
The report comes barely a week after President Uhuru Kenyatta came under heavy criticism for seemingly “throwing up his hands” in the face of rampant high-level corruption.
CITED INFLATION
He told an accountability summit at State House, Nairobi, that there wasn’t much he could do as many graft cases were held up in courts.
“Corruption is frustrating me. The pressure is on me to do something about corruption but my hands are tied,” he said.
The survey also revealed that a larger percentage of women (35 per cent) than men (31 per cent) cited inflation and the high cost of living as the most serious problem facing Kenya.
This is probably because men continue to dominate most economic industries as women face discrimination in a society that remains largely patriarchal.
Other problems cited as seriously affecting Kenyans in the survey include hunger and drought, unemployment, wide rich-poor gap, bad healthcare and poor leadership.
The surveyors also focussed on Kenyan households instead of individuals and the results were even more staggering.
For instance, almost half (41 per cent) of the respondents said inflation and high cost of living were the most serious problems facing Kenyan households.
Hunger and drought inevitably followed as the second most serious problem facing households, with one in 10 citizens singling it out.
The target population for the Sauti za Wananchi poll is all adults (18+) living in Kenya.
