Ruto, Raila Score D In Infotrak Performance Rating

President William Ruto and former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, scored a mean grade of D in the latest performance rating released by Infotrak.

The rating was captured in the survey titled End of Year Poll December 2023 which ranked the Kenya Kwanza government's performance in the year 2023, as well as that of the Opposition, the Senate and the Judiciary among others.

President Ruto scored a mean grade of D, translating to 47 percent while the opposition, which Raila leads, scored a mean grade of D (48 percent).

The rating was particularly surprising given that it is the opposition that has arguably done the most this year through anti-government protests that caused a standstill in major cities as well as litigated some of the Hustler policies and created the biggest public discourse on the Finance Act, 2023.

Many Kenyans believed that the opposition had failed in its role of providing oversight to the government.

Meanwhile, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua scored a mean grade of E (36 percent) in the performance rating, making him the worst-performing individual in the Kenya Kwanza government.

Cabinet Secretaries (CS) scored D (43 percent), Parliament scored D (42 percent), Senate scored D (42 percent), the Judiciary scored D (47 percent) and the Police scored D (45 percent). County Assemblies also scored 45 per cent (D).

Regionally, President Ruto did well in Rift Valley with a 50 percent performance rating, with Western and Nairobi counties following with 49 percent and 48 percent respectively.

Though the Opposition expectantly performed well in the Coast region with 50 percent, it was the Rift Valley region that surprised many with a 49 percent rating, level with Eastern region. Rift Valley is perceived by many as President Ruto's political stronghold.

The report highlighted that many Kenyans had paused to assess the performance of their leaders and institutions.

"The results, however, are not encouraging. Across the board the sentiments lean towards disapproval," reads the report in part.

Infotrak noted that the widespread dissatisfaction paints a clear picture: that Kenyans expect better from both the opposition and the current government.

"The writing is on the wall, a stern message for all leaders entrusted with shaping the nation's future. As we step into 2024, the hope is for significant improvement," the report recommended.

The survey was conducted on 1,500 respondents between December 18 to December 19, 2023.

Interviews were conducted through Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI) across all 47 counties and eight regions. There was a +/- 2.53 % margin of error.