Dave Opiyo
15 September 2008
Nairobi — Kenyans are sceptical of the Grand Coalition Government's commitment on their welfare, a new report says.
The report, released on Monday by the Community Aid International, shows that although the public earlier embraced the formation of the Coalition Government, their confidence in it was waning.
And their misgivings on the Government, it says, arises from its failure to end the common man's suffering, raising fears that its policies lack a "pro-mwananchi stand".
Setbacks
The "Citizens' Views on the Performance of the Government and Local Authorities" report cites skyrocketing inflation, persistent corruption, increased ethnicity as setbacks in the country's democratisation.
It also mentions lack of prioritisation for women's empowerment, continued inequitable allocation of resources in different regions and the deterioration of the Judiciary and the handling of last year's elections as other factors.
"As much as Kenyans accepted the Grand Coalition created to end the post-election crisis ... they have given it a low rating and expressed pessimism as to whether it has a pro-mwananchi stand," concluded the report.
The survey was conducted by Strategic Public Relations and Research. It was funded by UK-based Department for International Development and a Canadian organisation, Cida.
About 3,019 people from 21 districts in the country were interviewed in five related topics: service delivery, democratisation, economic development, human rights and gender development.
The report faults the manner in which the Government conducted last year's General Election, saying it failed to ensure that the polls were free and fair.
"They were blamed for going against the Constitution and thereby plunging the country into anarchy when it declared the disputed election results valid," it says.
The Government was also accused of selectively applying excessive force in parts of Nyanza and Rift Valley to quell the violence by security agencies.
It singled out the Electoral Commission of Kenya for poorly managing the disputed polls in which President Kibaki won amid protests from ODM supporters.
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Now which report do we trust? Just few weeks ago there was another one saying kenyans have confidence in the coalition. These NGO's should just devise other ways of making money and should stop using the name of kenyans in there schemes.