A majority of Kenyans now want the ICC to terminate the cases facing President Uhuru Kenyatta, Deputy President William Ruto and journalist Joshua Sang.
A poll released by Ipsos Synovate yesterday shows that for the first time, more Kenyans prefer a termination of the Kenyan ICC cases than those who want them to continue.
The poll shows that support for termination of the cases has risen from 29 per cent in June 2013 to 30 per cent in November last year and now stands at 46 per cent.
Yesterday’s poll shows that support for the cases has declined from 71 per cent in June 2013 to 44 per cent currently. Those who supported the continuation of the cases in a similar poll conducted in November last year stood at 64 per cent.
“It is obvious on why support for the termination of the case against the President has risen as even the Prosecutor has said that she has now case against him for now,” Ipsos consultant Tom Wolf said.
He said the withdrawal of witnesses in the case facing Ruto has also led to the rise in the number of people who want the cases terminated. There is growing perception that the ICC cases are collapsing especially after a large number of witnesses refused to testify against Uhuru and Ruto.
ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has also admitted that she has no evidence to sustain a trial against Uhuru and has asked for an adjournment.
Uhuru has dismissed Bensouda’s request for an adjournment and has asked the trial judges to terminate the case against him immediately. The trial judges are yet to make a determination on the matter but are expected to do so in the coming weeks.
The survey released by Synovate yesterday also covered other social and economic issues including the state of the economy and the security. According to the poll 37 per cent of the respondents when prompted stated that they would prefer to vote through a ‘smart/mobile phone (M-Kura)’, while 60 per cent expressed a preference to vote ‘as before, by marking ballots at a polling station’.
“Acceptance of smart phone voting is to an extent varied amongst the poorer and wealthier households, urban and rural dwellers, young and older, less and more educated individuals with the wealthier, urban, younger and more educated population having more inclination towards it than the rest,” the poll stated.
The poll also showed that one out of every four respondents reports that either they or someone else in their household “sometimes goes to sleep hungry.” This figures range significantly across the regions: from 37 per cent in Nyanza to only 12 per cent in Central.
“This sad reality is clearly one reflection of ‘the most serious problem facing the country today’, which 50 per cent of these same respondents identified as the high cost of living that the Jubilee government should be prepared to address as it begins its second year in office,” Wolf said as he released the poll.
The respondents also said that Kenya is unprepared to implement the recently canceled laptop project with most citing lack of electricity and facilities to run the project.
Largely matching the President’s statement in Nanyuki that about half of the primary schools currently lack power, 55 per cent of the survey’s respondents of who have children in such schools confirmed this.
The poll also showed that two-thirds of Kenyans believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction in relation to development. On security, full two-thirds of all respondents (65 per cent) reported that the nearest police station or police post is within 4 kilometres of their residence, with over one-third of these stating it was not more than one kilometre away.
The poll also shows that many Kenyans believe that the Nyumba Kumi initiative would enhance their feeling of security. The survey shows that 61 per cent of Kenyans stated that they know all/most of their closest neighbours, with 70 per cent of the respondents stating that if they knew more of/about their neighbours then they would feel safer.
- the-star.co.ke
