BLANTYRE(MaraPost)—As political commentators and other stakeholders in the May 20 elections continue to invalidate the findings of the recent opinion poll which put Joyce Banda at the summit, Research Tech Consultants lead consultant in Malawi has said the findings are real.
Research Tech Consultants claimed few days ago to have conducted opinion poll which indicated that Joyce Banda would win the forthcoming elections.
Reacting to the opinion poll political analysts and human rights activists questioned the credibility of the survey.
Social and Business commentator Henry Kachaje said: “Just wondering, do most of our reporters and their editors know anything about investigative journalism? My observation is that many times stories are published without even verifying the facts, or providing more detailed analysis other than simply quoting a released document. Like this Research Tech Consultants for example, can The Nation and Zodiak help us with the 1. A link to the firm’s website, 2. A link to the full research report, 3. Any previous track record of the firm in conducting similar research, 4. Physical address of the offices in Lilongwe (or India), 5. Directors of the institute.”
However, Research Tech Consultants lead consultant in Malawi Thomas Odala has said the survey is genuine and that the firm has expertise in the field.
“We are experts in the field. It is our job to conduct opinion poll and we have done that in many countries. In Malawi we have offices in Lilongwe.
“We interviewed people from Nsanje to Chitipa. We asked the respondents their favourite candidate in the May 20 elections and they spoke out. What we released was the voice of the respondents,” said Odala.
Meanwhile, speculations are rife that the poll was funded by People’s Party (PP) as one of its campaign strategies.
