The second National Survey released by Trends for Insights for Africa (TIFA), a renowned research company has shown Kenyans awareness on economic issues and the national government performances. TIFA’s survey conducted with over 2,065 respondents also indicates other topics such as the achievements and current priorities involving political alignments in the country. According to the report, 1 out of 5 Kenyans cited that 29 per cent of Azimio Coalition households attested to sleeping hungry whereas 51 per cent of Kenya Kwanza supporters voiced to rarely doing so as 3 per cent expressed to being unsure. Speaking to the press, Thursday at a Nairobi hotel, TIFA Research Analyst Dr. Tom Wolf said that a majority of the participants affirmed high cost of living, unemployment, hunger and drought as main problems at 48 per cent, 13 per cent and 25 per cent respectively. Wolf expressed that as a country economic problems exacerbated by the prolonged drought has affected Kenyans all over citing these nine regions as the most affected areas namely; Central Rift, South Rift, Lower Eastern, Coast, Nairobi, Northern, Western, Mt. Kenya and Nyanza. ‘During the survey the most challenged areas with high cost of living were South Rift, Western and Coast, as hunger and drought experienced in the Northern and Lower Eastern, while Central Rift, Lower Eastern and Nairobi mentioned as the main jobless,’ remarked Wolf. Further, he urged the current government to prioritize, address and focus on these three key issues akin to reduction in the cost of living, job creation and improvement on education systems such as Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) and Junior Secondary School (JSS) over the next 5 years. He added areas to be resolved like reduction of government spending, public debt, corruption, political conflict and expand social protection and undertake infrastructure projects such as water projects, construction of roads and electricity supply among others. On the other hand, Dr. Wolf lauded the government on its exemplary achievements on launching the hustler fund, providing support to the needy, extending the electricity grid and subsidizing the cost of fertilizers among others. ‘Among all Kenyans the launch of hustler fund receives the most mentions at 29 per cent as an early success in the current government than any other policy initiative or legislative enactment,’ voiced the research analyst.
Source: Kenya News Agency