NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 24 – Cabinet Minister William Ruto has rubbished the latest opinion polls released on Friday that indicated a huge win for the Yes team.
The Eldoret North MP said on Saturday that the statistics released by Synovate and Infotrak did not reflect the true picture on the ground. He described the results as a manipulation ploy by the Yes team to hoodwink Kenyans to vote for the proposed Constitution.
“The Synovate people have been paid by America to manipulate the opinion polls and say that the Yes people are going to win,” he alleged.
Two opinion polls released on Friday indicated that Kenyans would approve the proposed Constitution with a huge margin at the August 4 referendum.
“In your opinion, residents of Kericho, do you think these people can really succeed? Maybe if they steal the vote otherwise they have no hope,” Mr Ruto told a campaign rally in Kericho.
“Yesterday (Friday), on television news, a poll was conducted on whether people believe the Synovate figures. 67 percent of Kenyans said that they did not and that is what is going to take place during the referendum,” he said.
Infotrak’s poll showed that 65 percent of Kenyans would vote Yes’if the referendum was held today while 25 percent will vote No as 10 percent of voters remain undecided.
Synovate’s poll gave the Yes a lead of 58 percent of Kenyans, No vote is at 20 percent while 17 percent said they were undecided which way to vote.
The poll commissioned by the Centre for Multi-party Democracy – Kenya and carried out by Infotrak Research says that the support for the proposed document has grown due to heightened campaigns that have been led by the President Mwai Kibaki who has been criss crossing the country drumming up support for the law.
The poll that was conducted between July 17 and 19 targeting 2,500 respondents shows awareness has grown mainly in Central Province since May when they released their last poll.
According to the Synovate poll the Yes vote is leading in all the eight provinces although the No support almost equals it in Eastern and the Rift Valley. Mr Waititu said judging by the recent trends the margins are unlikely to change on the August 4 vote.
The poll conducted by Synovate between July 11 and 17 targeted 6,500 respondents with a rural urban distribution of 65 percent and 35 respectively.
Meanwhile, at the Kericho No rally, KANU Vice chairman Gideon Moi emphasised the need to iron out contentious land clauses in the proposed new constitution before submitting it to a referendum.
“In the issue of land, after August 4, which bank in Kenya today will loan money out knowing the uncertainty of the land issue and the title deed?” he posed.
About The Author
