Do politicians like crying wolf or are polls tweaked?

Ipsos Synovate’s political research analyst Tom Wolf released a poll last week showed that neither PM Raila Odinga nor his deputy Uhuru Kenyatta would win the presidency in first round if elections were held then.

Another poll by Infotrak two weeks earlier indicated that Raila would win in first round with 51 per cent against Uhuru’s 39 per cent.

The poll results, as happens always, were received with mixed feelings. Some politicians rejoiced while others cursed the pollsters. Not surprising for all people can’t win the same race, the same time.

Nevertheless, serious allegations have been made against some pollsters, and this is most  unfortunate if true, are paid to manipulate polls. Inconsistencies and disparities in polls are cited as proof of this malfeasance.

When conducted professionally, opinion polls, give an almost accurate reflection of reality. But when manipulated, they plant seeds of doubt and even strife in the public.

Pollsters must know that their credibility, just like journalists’, is pegged on accuracy; tell lies once, twice and you become irrelevant.

Unmoved by old and new traffic laws

It makes little sense, says Mr Henry Kivuva, for laws to be enacted but not implemented.

Kivuva notes that when road crashes occur, authorities are always quick to blame passengers. But when the passengers complain “no one is ready to listen to their concerns”.

He is especially concerned about the public service vehicles operating from Ruiru to Ruai in Nairobi, which he says  do so with total disregard of the old and new laws.

“We have lodged complaints enough times but the police  seem to have been pocketed. The matatus leave the terminus with touts standing and the vehicles carrying four instead of the legal three passegers per row.

“I believe the Inspector General only needs to make a simple call to rectify the situation,” he says.

And moaning the weekend deaths at the Likoni Ferry, Mr Justin Nkaranga is urging the Government to crackdown on unroadworthy trucks and disallow them from venturing into the ferry. “Likoni Ferry has become a deathtrap and authorities should help prevent more accidents,” he advises.

Recurrent current problems

Mr Kominic Keng’ong’o is a Kenya Power customer (account no 3300525-01) from Kamenya (wherever that is in our great republic). He is served, power-wise, by the Kirui transformer, which has three lines. But he says the transformer is serving him poorly. And he knows the cause of the problem: “Construction of the power lines was poorly done by the out-sourced contractors,” he says and accuses Kenya Power staff of being in deep sleep.

“They did not take time to inspect the (power) lines to confirm whether the work done by the contractor was up to scratch”. One of the line is, says Keng’ong’o, permanently out of service and reporting to Kenya Power hasn’t helped matters.

As the problem has become recurrent, he wants assurance that he will henceforth get uninterrupted power supply.

And a village by the name Oganda in Nyangusu sub-location, Nyamache District, has been in darkness since November, last year due to a dead transformer. This is according to Mr Thomas Ongeri (account is 3655828-01) who says efforts by residents to have Kenya Power revive the transformer have not given light.

DON’T YOU FORGET

Any plans Nema to silence political noisemakers?  

Mombasa resident Justin Osey Peter wrote to PointBlank on October 24 pleading with the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) to silence the political din in Mombasa. As the campaign mood sets in, Osey noted that politicians were increasingly “polluting the air” with their noise. “Caravans of vehicles with politicians and their supporters dancing to very loud music and powerful, noisy generators make the earth to tremor in Mombasa,” he said. Osey noted that business in towns and market places usually come to a standstill whenever politicians make a stopover. As the General Election edges closer, he predicted that political caravans would increase and  so would their ear drum-splitting noise. Does Nema have any plans to protect our ear drums from the rising noise from politicians on campaign trail?

No more honour for former MPs’ 

Mr Motari David would like anyone who is philanthropic enough to help him with the  definition of the word ‘honourable’ to end his confusion.  “Isn’t it supposed to be used on members of the House or any high office once they have been democratically elected?” If so, he wonders why the word is constantly being used on former MPs. Didn’t MPs lose the title when the House was dissolved? Surprisingly, he claims to have even overheard aspiring MPs being venerated as ‘honourable’. “As far as I know,the country has no honourables. Can someone out there correct me if I’m wrong?”