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Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki and his Foreign and Diaspora Affairs counterpart Musalia Mudavadi are the best performing ministers, a poll has revealed.

Trends and Insights for Africa (TIFA) opinion poll released yesterday showed that Kindiki scored 65 per cent while Mudavadi scored 62 per cent.

Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu emerged third in the poll with 58 per cent.

Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen and his Health counterpart Susan Nakhumicha tied at 57 per cent each while ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo and Defense CS Aden Duale scored 56 per cent each.

Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir was ranked the worst performing with 19 per cent followed by Gender CS Aisha Jumwa with 23 percent while National Treasury’s Njuguna Ndung’u, Water’s Zachary Njeru and Lands’ Alice Wahome tied with 24 per cent.

Chirchir has come under fire in recent weeks over the runaway cost of fuel and frequent countrywide blackouts.

Last month for instance, the CS sparked outrage when he warned that the cost of petrol would shoot to as high as Sh300 per litre owing to the crisis in the Middle East.

His statement came on the same day that Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan announced a reduction of fuel prices.
On the same day, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) in its weekly bulletin projected a drop in pump prices, further contradicting Chirchir.

Last week, he again found himself in the eye of a storm after the country experienced a nationwide blackout, with the CS failing to offer any explanation.

Foreign trips

Presenting the findings of the poll yesterday, TIFA Lead Researcher Tom Wolf said the Cabinet Secretary ratings were attributed to awareness among Kenyans and trust that they will deliver on their mandate.

“Attributes used to compute the overall score also included visibility on how they communicate what their Ministry is doing, commitment to addressing issues facing Kenyans, actively straightening issues in the Ministry as well as being honest and open about issues facing the Ministry,” he said.

At the same time, the opinion poll showed that Kindiki has the highest number of visits to counties at 41, followed by Mudavadi at 23, Machogu and Nakhumicha have had 20 each while Murkomen has 19.

On the number of foreign trips on social media pages, TIFA poll has shown that Kindiki has made none while Mudavadi has had 16 and Murkomen six.

The survey was conducted between November 25 and December 7 with a sample size of 3,009 respondents who constitute a representative sample of Kenya’s adult population.

As far as awareness of Ministers is concerned, Wolf said at least 83 per cent of Kenyans know Kindiki, 78 per cent for Mudavadi, 80 per cent for Machogu, 59 per cent for Nakhumicha and 75 per cent for Murkomen.

Mudavadi is the most trusted Cabinet Secretary at 70 per cent followed by Kindiki at 68 per cent, Nakhumicha at 61 per cent then Murkomen at 60 per cent and Machogu at 46 per cent.

The poll also shows that Kindiki is the most visible Cabinet Secretary at 67 per cent followed by Mudavadi at 65 per cent then Murkomen at 59 per cent, Machogu at 58 per cent and Nakhumicha at 56 per cent.

Machogu was named as the best in resolving issues at 67 per cent then Kindiki at 62 per cent while Mudavadi, Nakhumicha and Murkomen scored 60 per cent, 58 per cent and 50 per cent respectively.

At the same time, Kenyans said Kindiki is the most transparent Cabinet Secretary at 63 per cent then Murkomen at 59 per cent while Mudavadi, Machogu and Nakhumicha scored 57 per cent, 56 per cent and 55 per cent respectively.