By ISAAC MESO

Concern over insecurity by the general public has risen in the past three months, making it one of the main issues worrying Kenyans today.  A survey released by the Ipsos Kenya Ltd has revealed that those who are troubled rose from seven per cent in February to 17 per cent currently.

Tom Wolf, Research analyst at Ipsos said that in identifying the main problem they think is facing the country, more than twice as many respondents mentioned crime and insecurity as they did three months ago.

  Wolf noted that among issues that Kenyans highlighted as the most serious problem facing them, inflation  topped at 38 per cent while unemployment stood at 13 per cent, corruption at ten per cent and  poor leadership at seven per cent.

Most serious

READ MORE

 Crack down on illegal arms for peace, security, governments urged

 President Ruto calls for a different approach to femicide incidents

 Huawei, charity partners to empower women with digital skills in Kenya

 Haiti mission is part of Trump's immigration policy, Government says.

The report revealed that 13 per cent of   Kenyans  think unemployment is a serious problem.

“Although the high cost of living remains the most serious problem facing Kenyan households today, the number of those who think it is a serious problem has declined from 50 per cent to 38 per cent over the same period.

“Other serious problems mentioned include unemployment, corruption, poor leadership, poverty, terrorism, and tribalism,” said Wolf.

The report revealed that 60 per cent of Kenyans felt that the country was headed in the wrong direction.

Wolf further noted that the highest proportion of those who indicated that the country was headed in the wrong direction were from the coast and Nyanza regions both at 86 per cent.

“Most positive responses are found in the Rift Valley at 46 per cent and Central regions at 29 per cent. Political orientation is apparently an important factor in shaping such views, as seen in the fact that more than twice as many of CORD supporters express this negative opinion as compared to Jubilee’s supporters” he reiterated.

Regarding the recent effort to improve national security through the Operation Usalama Watch, the survey reveals mixed views from Kenyans, with 39 per cent of respondents noting that it will cause  more  terror  attacks against  37 per cent who feel that the operation will lead to a reduction in crime and insecurity in the country.

 A sample size for this survey was 2,059 respondents living in urban and rural areas and their target population was Kenyans aged 18 years and above.