Corruption tops list of reasons Kenyans oppose Broad-Based govt — TIFA
By Cy Muganda, December 23, 2025Corruption concerns have emerged as the leading reason why Kenyans oppose the Broad-Based Government (BBG) arrangement between President William Ruto and the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, a new opinion poll has revealed.
According to the latest TIFA Research survey released on Tuesday, December 23, 2025, 35% of those who oppose the BBG cite corruption as their main reason for rejecting the political arrangement, followed by concerns that it undermines democracy and accountability.
Governance failures
The survey revealed that opposition to the BBG centres primarily on various governance-related issues rather than specific policy disagreements.
According to TIFA, 31% of BBG opponents cited concerns that the arrangement “undermines democracy/role of the opposition, creates confusion over leadership/responsibility” as their main reason for opposing it.
Another 16% pointed to the BBG’s perceived lack of “public trust/participation/transparency/accountability,” while 13% faulted it for failing “to address the real problems affecting citizens.”
“Responses are quite varied if somewhat overlapping among those who oppose the BBG as to the main reason why they do so, though most are related to various governance issues,” TIFA noted in its report.
Human rights and accountability concerns
The poll found that 3% of BBG opponents specifically mentioned human rights violations as their primary concern, though TIFA suggested that such abuses are more likely to occur when other governance failures remain unaddressed.
“While few specifically mention human right abuses (3%), these are more presumably likely to occur when the other ills cited remain unaddressed,” the polling firm observed.
Notably, the survey found no mentions of other common complaints against the government, such as high taxes, continuing high debt levels, or delays in county allocations.
Growing support despite concerns
Despite these criticisms, TIFA’s data shows that support for the BBG has grown significantly, doubling from 22% in May 2025 to 44% in November 2025.
Opposition to the arrangement has declined from 64% in August 2025 to 48% in November 2025, reducing the gap between opponents and supporters to just 4 percentage points.
“Whether such an improvement in the BBG’s standing is at least partly a consequence of the recognition given to Raila by the President and other Kenya Kwanza leaders in the wake of his passing may be explored by other findings from this survey,” TIFA stated.
The poll was conducted between November 10 and 17, 2025, interviewing 2,053 randomly selected Kenyan adults across all 47 counties with a margin of error of ±2.16%.