In the wake of the recent furor
over opinion polls that seem to favour particular candidates, Information and Communication Permanent Secretary
Bitange Ndemo has said that it is important for the opinion pollsters to
disclose their financiers to the public.
The PS further accused the
pollsters of deceiving the public by insisting that they finance their own
activities when in reality they are profit driven business;
“These are private organisations. They must
disclose how they were funded. They don’t fund themselves. Why would you be
funding yourselves? What gain do you get?” Ndemo said.
“If
say the University of Nairobi did that you would understand because it is a
public institution.”
Ndemo
said that it is also time for the pollsters to make public their methodologies
and also inform the public better when carrying out their research.
“What do you call opinion polling in your
language?” Ndemo posed. “And you are learned. Now take it to someone who hasn’t
gone to school.”
“If
you are told so and so is winning in vernacular and then results come in
another way how do you explain? That is the problem.”