PM maintains lead in opinion poll

Written By:Rose Welimo,    Posted: Sun, Feb 26, 2012

Kenyans want the coalition government to address the issue of insecurity followed by unemployment and the high cost of living Prime Minister Raila Odinga remains the man to beat if presidential elections were held today. This is according to a public opinion poll released Sunday by Infrotrak Harris Research and Consulting Company. Raila garnered 38 percent popularity which is a drop by 10 percent from his ranking in March last year. He is followed by Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta with 18% while William Ruto comes third with 7%. Vice president Kalonzo Musyoka comes in fourth with 6%, Martha Karua 5%, while Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi has 3%. Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth got 2%, internal security minister George Saitoti and Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa tied at 1%. The other presidential hopefuls got 6%. According to the survey, 36% of Kenyans want the Grand coalition government to deal with the issue of insecurity. The other pressing issues Kenyans want addressed are unemployment especially among the youth while 30% want the high cost of living tackled. A further 20% indicated that they would like the coalition government to settle Internally Displaced Persons. The opinion poll was conducted between 5th and 8th of February this year.  A sample of 5000 respondents from all the counties was interviewed.