Kenyans Concerned with High Cost of Living According to IPSOS

Corruption, poverty, unemployment as well as the high cost of living today are among the things that most Kenyans, especially the low income earners are worried about most.

This is according to the report released by IPSOS that looked into the effects of the rising cost of living among the households in Kenya. According to the report, 46 percent of Kenyans reported to earning less than 10,000 shillings. This implies that 46 percent of Kenyans, according to IPSOS earn between 0 and 10,000 shillings and the rising cost of living has left them hard hit. According to the report, supporters of CORD earn less than their counterparts who support the ruling coalition, Jubilee. On the other hand, 54 percent of Kenyans reported that their situation has worsened as a result of the rising cost of living.

On December 1^st, the excise duty imposed by government on goods including drinking water took effect. This was one of the government’s efforts to try and raise revenue as a way of covering some cash deficits within the government. This has seen Kenyans paying hard for commodities and in the process too, raising the cost of living. The report has come out just a day after it emerged that the Energy Regulatory Commission was pushing the National Treasury to increase taxation on kerosene by 10 shillings, a commodity that is used by more than 50 percent of Kenyans.

Among the ways proposed to eliminate poverty in the report are to intensify the fight against corruption. Many Kenyans believe that the government has done little in fighting corruption and let massive amounts of cash to be looted from the government. Creation of jobs is another way that will help do away with poverty. Many young people in Kenya are unemployed. Majority of them live in abject poverty and this has seen them turning to criminal activities. There is also need to make it easy for people to access markets through infrastructural development.

Article by Juma Fred.