2017 has been a very bad year for Kenyans and this poll proves it all
Majority of Kenyans are of the opinion that 2017 was an extremely difficult year with the high cost of living being cited as the greatest challenge.The Year End survey carried out by research firm Trends & Insights For Africa – TIFA indicate that 75% of Kenyans feel that 2017 was worse than 2016. However, many Kenyans are hopeful that the New Year will bring good tidings.The poll by TIFA Research reveals that high cost of living, unemployment and political tension were the major challenges Kenyans faced in 2017.64 per cent of those polled cited high costs of living, 25 per cent attributed to unemployment while 52 per cent said they year was flawed by political tension."The crisis in Kenya was not only evident in political tension but also in the wallets of many citizens who could not afford to purchase basic food commodities such as maize flour, milk and sugar, whose prices rose sharply and in some instances by over 200 per cent," said TIFA CEO Margaret Ireri."2017 was the year when food prices became the yard stick for Kenya’s economic performance in the eyes of ordinary mwananchi."These concerns on the cost of living are in line with the reality as the inflation rate in Kenya rose from an average of 6.32% in 2016 to 7.95% in 2017, evident from the increase in the prices of basic household goods.The average price of a 2kg packet of maize flour in April 2017 sold at an all-time high of 153 shillings and only reduced to 90 shillings after the government subsidy.
The report further says Kenya lowered its 2017 economic growth forecast from 6.1% to 5.5% due to drought and political uncertainty. The agriculture sector contributes to about 26% of GDP and employs over 40% of the total population and over 70% of Kenya’s rural population.Prolonged drought affected crop production and animal productivity. This in turn affected the agroprocessing industry as there was constrained supply of food products.On internal security, the survey showed that 62% of Kenyans felt that internal security worsened in 2017 whilst 24% had a contrary opinion. The worst sentiments pertaining security was from Nyanza at 85% followed by Nairobi at 80%. These negative sentiments in Nyanza and Nairobi could be attributed to the fact that these regions were more active in political demonstrations.The survey targeted Kenyans aged above 18 years and sampled 1,005 respondents living in urban and rural areas.