Leaders question credibility of opinion poll rankings
A cross-section of leaders from Machakos and Kiambu counties have questioned the validity of opinion polls by various firms on the ratings of those aspiring for elective positions.
Led by County Assembly Speakers Florence Mwangangi (Machakos) and Stephen Ndicho (Kiambu), both of whom are aspiring for governorship in their respective counties, the leaders accused the pollsters of issuing skewed results in favour of certain individuals.
Ndicho claimed most of the data favoured those who paid for the service and the outcome is not representative of the situation on the ground. This claim was supported by Mwangangi who said the results were misleading.
They were speaking at Kivingoni village in Yatta, Machakos County on Saturday during the burial of Mama Kaluki Muli Kilango, the mother of veteran Thika-based journalist-cum-evangelist Francis Kilango who passed on at the advanced age of 103 years.
"Those who pay are rated highly in the charts, unlike the ones who do not pay. The polls are simply an avenue for people to make money and the results are not representative of the situation on the ground. Only the voter will decide who is popular during the elections," Ndicho stated.
Mwangangi said; "Many of the so-called surveys and researches are doctored and misleading. The pollsters should be objective and scientific so that the results give the real situation on the ground."
Similar sentiments were expressed by area Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) official and parliamentary aspirant for Yatta constituency Kasimba Ngui who said the opinion polls should be professional and scientific.
A recent survey of the Machakos gubernatorial race gave one of the aspirants a popularity rating of nearly 80 percent while others got less than one percent, an outcome that was dismissed by a number of local leaders.
