Over 78pc believe devolution is the way to go, survey now shows

As the national and county governments continue their meetings at the second Devolution Conference in Kisumu, some good news is coming out of a fresh survey by Ipsos.

The findings in the survey reveal that public support for devolution has increased considerably over the last eight months, with an overwhelming majority now endorsing this form of governance as a way to channel funds to grassroots.

More than three-quarters (78 per cent) of Kenyans interviewed between March 28 and April 7 backed devolution, a rise from two-thirds (69 per cent) last September, says the Ipsos survey.

And then the bad news. Members of county assemblies (MCAs), governors, senators and county executives must work harder to gain the public's trust. The officials received very low ratings, indicating that the overwhelming support for devolution among the public is more about "future promise rather than observed performance". This is likely to be a sobering thought for those of them meeting at Tom Mboya Social Hall.

One constant in the survey is that support for county governments is slightly higher among Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) supporters (80 per cent) compared to Jubilee's (77 per cent) but it is clear that even in Jubilee strongholds, support for devolved governance is on the up.

Even fewer Opposition supporters (18 per cent) dislike devolution compared to Jubilee's (23 per cent).

"Such high support does not, however, deter Kenyans from critically appraising the performance of particular county-level officials," says the report.

Hardly one-in-five Kenyans (21 per cent) have "complete confidence" in their governors, though nearly half of the rest (44 per cent) have "some confidence" in them", adds the survey.

The remaining one-third (33 per cent) have "little confidence" or "no confidence at all" in governors.

But the pollster cautions: "At the same time, having confidence (or not) in a particular election official may be at least partly a reflection of political orientation, so that even a well-performing governor may not have the 'confidence' of some of those who voted for another candidate, whether at the party nomination stage or in the election itself."

The survey adds that 38 per cent have "some confidence" in MCAs while 22 per cent have no confidence at all. 20 per cent have a lot of confidence in MCAs, while 18 per cent have only a little confidence.

It says 34 per cent of Kenyans have "some confidence" in senators while 25 per cent have no confidence in them at all. 19 per cent have a lot of confidence in them while 21 per cent only have a little confidence.

Based on the low ratings for county officials, and subsequently low ratings for county governments (22 per cent), governors, senators and MCAs must raise their game if they hope to return to office in 2017 when the next General Election is due.

The target population for the survey were Kenyans aged 18 years and above who will account for the single largest block of voters in 2017. The sample size was 1,964 respondents living in urban and rural areas.

The survey also probed the awareness among Kenyans on the recent decision by the High Court that it is a violation of the principle of separation of powers – and thus unconstitutional – for Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to be a National Assembly responsibility.

Cap salaries

Only one-third of Kenyans (34 per cent) were found to be aware of the court judgment. This might indicate MPs have done a better job at the grassroots in ramping up public support for CDF.

However, it might also reflect the fact that CDF projects have a longer history as visible examples of development at the grassroots than projects initiated by the county governments.

On whom they want to have this responsibility, 38 per cent of the respondents said they want MPs or Parliament to be in charge, while 41 per cent want it to be under counties.

It was found that whatever its failures in particular constituencies (such as those where projects have just been paralysed due to the freezing of CDF accounts by the CDF board), such projects are seen by the vast majority (nearly nine in 10 Kenyans) as "needed to promote development at the local level".

And most respondents would prefer to see the number of elected and nominated officials at both the county and national governments reduced.

Kenyans also want the salaries and benefits of "senior government" officials capped and more powers to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.

The respondents also wish that health services remain a national government responsibility.