The controversial pollster Mizani Africa has been exposed for allegedly extorting from aspirants eyeing for various elective seats in order to be ranked as the most preferred candidates in their respective areas.
In the viral VIDEO seen by Mambo Mseto, a top Mizani Africa employee identified as Martin is heard bargaining via a phone call with an unidentified man apparently allied to ODM candidate in Kakamega gubernatorial contest Fernandez Barasa. The associate and the Mizani Africa employee engage in a discussion to involving bribes that would see Mizani Africa rank Barasa as the most preferred candidate in the final survey that is set to be projected on Monday, 8th August, 2022, a day before the general election.
Haron Kiriba, the man behind Mizani Africa’s questionable polls
According to the conversion, Martin from Mizani Africa had earlier on called Barasa’s man although he was driving and couldn’t pick the call. However, the governor hopeful’s ally laments that Mizani Africa had extorted from Kenya Kwanza candidate Cleophas Malala, who is Barasa’s main challenger in the Kakamega battle and ranked him ahead in the polls.
“You called me while I was driving, I couldn’t pick your call” said Barasa’s man.
“We want to do the last opinion poll which will be released on Monday, tell the boss to give something manageable so that we rank him the best. It will be released on Monday” said Martin of Mizani Africa. The governor aspirant’s handler on the hand seemed uneasy with the pollster’s alleged secret deals with Malala to front him as the best candidate in the recently released polls.
Mizani An enterprise of sponsored opinion polls?
The leaked conversation opens a lid on the possibility of Mizani Africa being an enterprise of cooked and sponsored polls that suit the needs of whoever plays to their financial tunes.
Recently, in a surprising ranking, Mizani Africa released poll results alleged to have been from a poll research that showed Deputy President William Ruto would win the election against Azimio’s Raila Odinga. The surprise ranking by Mizani Africa went against all leading rankings that showed the Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga enjoying a comfortable lead against DP Ruto.
A recent ranking by Mizani showing Ruto surprisingly ahead of Raila
“You want to extort from both sides. You extort from our camp and you go on the other side too of Malala to get money. Those people can’t even pay half of what we have been paying you. How much did he give?” Barasa’s ally said.
The dodgy and secretive Martin from Mizani Africa declined to reveal the amount of money he received from Malala, as he maintained that ODM candidate Fernandez Barasa should send at least ksh200,000 to be ranked the best candidate in Monday’s poll.
Mizani Africa’s critics from the past
Previously, top figures in the country had called out Mizani Africa for their cooked polls that had no scientific backing, and are far-detached from the political realities of the county.
Lawyer Donald Kipkorir once called out Mizani Africa for its malpractices and singled out its owner Haron Kiriba as a man of questionable business records and practices. The vocal lawyer wondered how Mizani is still allowed to conduct opinion polls in the country despite damning allegations of the conduct of its top leadership.
Digital influencer Abraham Mutai also took issue with Mizani Africa and its leadership composition and ability to conduct credible opinion polls in the present electioneering period. He wondered how a ‘briefcase’ company with only two employees was able to conduct research and ranking across the country and purportedly issue awards to Mps it had ranked as best performing.
What’s your take on this latest development? Should polling firms be regulated?
