Kenyans prefer Raila-Mudavadi partnership

By Steve MkawaleKenyans would prefer Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his deputy, Musalia Mudavadi, as President and Deputy President in the next general elections.
A recent Synovate opinion polls released in Nairobi on Saturday shows 20 per cent of the 2, 000 Kenyans sampled would vote for the two while eight per cent would prefer a combination of Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta.
The poll that was carried out between March 27 and April 1, this year, showed that if Eldoret North MP William Ruto was Uhuru’s running mate they would be third with six per cent of the sampled group preferring their alliance.
Opinion manipulated
Five per cent of the participants in the poll would want a country led by Raila, as the president and Gachugu MP Martha Karua, the deputy president.
But 63 per cent of those who would vote for Ruto as president would prefer Uhuru Kenyatta as his running mate.
The poll showed that 35 per cent of those who would vote for Uhuru as president would prefer him to have Kalonzo as his running mate while 29 per cent would want him to pick Ruto as his deputy president.
Tom Wolf from Synovate said it was necessary to carry out the opinion poll to try and engage Kenyans in the debate on the choice of the running mate as prescribed in the Constitution.
"It is an important topic to bring forth now that we have a Constitution that demands a president to have a running mate who will eventually be the deputy president," he said.
The results released by Wolf further showed that those who preferred Karua as their presidential candidate would want her to pick either Kalonzo Musyoka or Eugene Wamalwa as her running mate.
Last week, Karua launched her 2012 presidential bid did not name her running mate.
Wolf said there was a need to open a debate on the criteria for choosing a running mate ahead of the 2012 polls. "There are various criteria to be looked into that Kenyans need to know. Some of them include the relationship between the president and the deputy president, ideology, policy and individual capacity among other issues," he said.
Public perceptionHowever, Wolf clarified that they did not look at these during sampling but only asked questions like, "Which possible pair of president and deputy president do you think would be the best team to lead the country in the next five years?"
But Mudavadi took issue with the released opinion poll results wondering why the research team only paired him with Raila and not any other politician. In a statement to newsrooms by his Private Secretary and Director of Public Communication Kibisu-Kabatesi, Musalia who is also the Minister for Local Government said for a long time opinion polling in Kenya has been manipulated to alter the perception of the public.
He said the current poll proves that most polls were cooked and self-serving.
"Musalia Mudavadi has clearly been the target and victim of manipulated opinion polls." The statement read.