Kenyans rank roads as the most important development projects by county governments.
In a county service delivery survey conducted by Ipsos Kenya and commissioned by the Kenya Alliance of Resident Associations (Kara), 56 per cent of respondents cited roads as the most important projects. Health was next at 12 per cent, with education and water projects at 10 per cent each.
Only two per cent of respondents picked sewage and drainage. One per cent picked electricity and security.
The survey, released yesterday, was conducted in five counties: Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Uasin Gishu. “We focused on the big five counties,” said Kara CEO Henry Ochieng.
Ochieng said the survey was aimed at ascertaining public perception on service delivery in counties and provide data that can inform decisions in areas that stakeholders should give more attention to.
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Ochieng said that while considerable progress had been made in the implementation of County Integrated Development Plans, a number of challenges have been noted and lessons learnt.
The survey also showed that Kenyans felt that taxation is significantly higher under devolution while levels of economic well-being have gone down. Eight in 10 people said taxes had gone up. 57 per cent of the respondents said there were too many taxes levied while half of those surveyed said the revenue collection and accountability systems were poor.
Kenyans also felt that devolution had “devolved” corruption to the counties. Thirty-six per cent of respondents said devolution had led to increased corruption in counties while 14 per cent cited nepotism in the award of jobs.
