Governor Irungu Kang'ata, Murang'a County Top Latest Infotrak Rankings

Murang'a County has emerged as the best-performing county overall as far as rankings in Kenya are concerned. The county also scored a double victory as Governor Irung'u Kang'ata was ranked the best governor in Kenya.

This is according to just-released rankings derived from a report released by Infotrak Research and Consulting on Tuesday, February 11 dubbed the Countytrak Performance Index 2024.

Murang'a emerged top with a score of 52 percent, just one over Homa Bay County which scored 51 percent.

Trans Nzoia and Kirinyaga tied for third place, each scoring 48 percent, while Kisii, Nyeri, and Kisumu, all with a score of 47 percent, shared the fifth position.

Angela Ambitho, Infotrak CEO presenting the Countytrak Performance Index 2024 report on February 11, 2025. /MARVIN CHEGE.VIRAL TEA KE

Uasin Gishu, Elgeyo Marakwet, Makueni, Bungoma, Kiambu, and Lamu, each scoring 46 percent, were ranked as the eighth best-performing counties in the country.

“The best-performing county utilises live dashboards to track various sectors to ensure no inefficiency,” stated Angela Ambitho, Infotrak CEO.

In terms of governors, Kang'ata (68 percent) bettered the likes of George Natembeya of Trans Nzoia who secured the second position with a score of 64 percent, while Gladys Wanga of Homa Bay ranked third with 61 percent.

Others in the top 10 include Anyang’ Nyong’o (59 percent), Mutula Kilonzo (57 percent), Wisley Rotich (57 percent), Simba Arati (55 percent), Gideon Mungaro (54 percent), Mutahi Kahiga (54 percent), and Kimani Wamatangi (53 percent).

Kilifi County was found to be the most-improved county, jumping up 22 places to settle at 13th in 2024 from 35th in 2023. This was followed by Kiambu, Kisumu and Lamu counties which jumped up 16 places to place 8th, 5th and 13th respectively in 2024 compared to 24th, 21st and 29th in 2023.

Samburu and Mombasa counties came joint fourth, rising by 14 places to rank 15th and 21st respectively in 2024, compared to when they were 29th and 35th in 2023. However, Infotrak's data indicated that there was a drop in the county's overall ranking to 65 per cent, down from 70 per cent in 2023.

Kenyans cited rising corruption, inadequate service delivery in essential sectors, and a lack of transparency and accountability as the primary reasons for the decline in the performance of governors and counties.

Regarding governors, survey respondents identified their influence over the allocation and utilization of public funds as a key factor in their rankings.

Other contributing factors to the governors' performance included transparency and accountability, fulfillment of campaign promises, initiation of development projects, and their accessibility and responsiveness to constituents.

How Was The Survey Done?

"Our current index was conducted between October - December 2024 covering all the 47 counties, 290 constituencies and 1450 wards with an overall sample of 36,200. Each county was treated as an individual universe and assigned a cluster sample which ranged between 600 and 2000 respondents guided by the population and number of wards in the respective counties. Within each county, sampling frames were designed using population proportionate to size guided by census data and catered for demographics such as age, gender etc. Data was collected through Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI) and analysed using SPSS," Infotrak stated in its report.

The County Trak tool consisted of twelve core functions with 33 key performance indicators and five approval rating questions. The functions included: Agriculture, Health, Education, Roads & Transport, Energy, Water management, Environment & natural resources management, Trade & Tourism, County Planning & Development, Housing, Lands & settlements, Culture & Sports and Social Services. Also covered was Public Participation, Planning, and Management of County Resources.

According to Infotrak, the final questionnaire was structured with using 1-10 Likert scale being applied on each indicator where I was very poor and 10 was excellent.

"The mean was computed for each Sub-Indicator of the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to get the Index for that Specific KPI. The Overall County performance Index was then computed by taking the average of the KPIs," added the report.

Murang'a is the top-performing county in Kenya with a score of 52%- Infotrak#CountytrakReport #InfotrakResearch pic.twitter.com/ltGIS3D0rG — Viral Tea Ke (@ViralTeaKe) February 11, 2025