Majority of Kenyans believe Eurobond scam true report

A report by Twaweza Research Group shows that a vast majority of Kenyans believe that the Eurobond corruption allegations are true.

According to Twaweza program officer, Victor Rateng, the findings show that 3 out of 4 Kenyans say that Eurobond allegations are true with 73% saying the government has not provided them with adequate information regarding the scandal.

The scam, that was allegedly conceived by top government officials as an avenue for external borrowing to facilitate the financing of major projects, is feared to eventually affect every citizen; born and not born at the time of acquiring the debt.

Rateng also noted that from the research, citizens are more interested in getting information about development progresses more than any other issues.

“When asked about what type of information they would be most interested in obtaining, development progress tops the list at 66% and 53% in county and national levels respectively,” he said.

The research, dubbed “Sauti ya Mwananchi”, also shows that fewer Kenyans have access to information despite this being a right enshrined in the Kenyan Constitution and Parliament passing the Information Bill.

Majority of the citizens believe that they would not be provided with information by the government agencies on development plans even if they requested for it.

The report also shows that 6 out of 10 citizens say that reporting a crime will not change anything.

“Most citizens who have heard of a crime in their areas state that the crime was not reported because reporting it would not change anything. One out of four citizens said that reporting the crimes would be dangerous or worrisome,” added Rateng.

A large number of citizens, 91%, say the main reasons for not reporting crime is because authorities neither take action nor protect them.

The research also shows that radio remains, by far, the most popular source of information with 67% of the polled citizens citing it as their main source of information over the past four weeks. Only 18% cited television as their main source.

The poll was conducted between June 7 – 20, 2016 with 1,783 respondents being polled across the 47 counties.