Kenya borders volatile Somalia, and is currently led by the first sitting head of state to have been indicted by the International Criminal Court.  However, it is among Africa’s top ten economies and has a thriving mobile money system for financial transactions. D3 Systems conducted a nationwide survey of the Kenyan people to gauge public opinion about these and other issues.

The D3 Systems survey covers a variety of topics of importance to Kenyans, including perceptions of democracy and elections, the image of Kenya’s President, the role of Kenyan forces in Somalia and its impact on security in Kenya, and consumer behavior such as mobile phone use. Fieldwork for the nationally representative survey of 1,010 Kenyans aged 18 and older was conducted by our research partner Infinite Insight based in Nairobi.

Key findings include:

• Kenyans consider economic problems such as unemployment and inflation and high prices as the top problems facing the country.
• Kenyans express strong support for democracy, with 89% agreeing (‘strongly’ or ‘somewhat’) with the statement that “democracy may have problems but it is the best system of government.” More than two thirds of Kenyans (68%) agree that the country is ruled by the will of the people.
• The participation of Kenyan troops in UN missions such as AMISOM has the support of 71% of Kenyans, and almost two-thirds (62%) think that the deployment of Kenyan forces in Somalia has made security in Kenya better.
• Kenyans express openness to professional and familial relationships with persons of a different ethnic group or tribe. Seven in ten believe that people of different ethnic groups are able to live together without conflict in Kenya.
• About nine in ten Kenyans owns a mobile phone.
• TV, followed by radio, is the most popular source of news and information.

The figure above illustrates a total of two mentions.

We invite you to read more about this research by downloading the full report:

Full report: Kenyan Perspectives on Democracy, Economic Issues, and Regional Security

Methodology Report