Mike Sonko scores dismally in survey of governors

Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko scored a D+ in the latest opinion poll ranking county leaders on how they involve Kenyans in key decisions on devolution.

Sonko, who has come under pressure in social media over the poor state of the city, scored a rating of 44 per cent, the lowest among the three governors polled in the Trends and Insights for Africa (Tifa) survey.

Nairobi residents have been using social media to express their dissatisfaction with the county government’s performance on garbage collection and maintaining city roads.

Respondents from Nairobi were more dissatisfied compared to their counterparts in Mombasa and Kisumu, according to the survey whose findings were released in Nairobi on Tuesday.

KEY DECISIONS

The County Citizens’ Score Card by Tifa shows that the three counties’ administrations have failed to reach out to the people when making key decisions.

This resulted in their poor rating on service delivery.

The study, financed by Tifa, based its findings on county functions such as street lighting, providing clean water, management of nursery schools, health services, sewerage systems among others as service delivery indicators.

Respondents rated Kisumu as the best performing county with a score of 56 per cent (C+) followed by Mombasa with 53 per cent (C) and Nairobi with a score of 44 per cent (D+).

BUDGETING

On public forums on county development plans in Nairobi, 95 per cent of the respondents said they had not participated while 99 per cent said they had not contributed to budgeting forums in the last six months.

Similarly, in Mombasa and Kisumu, more than 90 per cent of the respondents said they had not participated in the forums.

Tifa Chief Executive Officer Maggie Ireri said the 1,500 people polled for the study conducted between May 1 and May 4 were not aware of when and where the forums were held.

STREET LIGHTING

“The onus is on the counties because they need to get more people to attend these meetings,” she said.

According to the poll, sewerage systems and construction of feeder roads are still a challenge for Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o’s administration.

The best performances were in street lighting, early childhood education and provision of clean water.

Mombasa County is also on the spot over sewerage issues, piling more pressure on Governor Hassan Joho’s administration.