Malawi govt dismiss opinion polls: Dausi says no way Mutharika can be unpopular ‘its mercurial and mala fide ’
Malawi government has rejected the opinion poll showing that President Peter Mutharika’s popularity has dipped as opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) leader Lazarous Chakwera’s ratings climbed.
Minister of Information, Communications and Technology (ICT), Nicholous Dausi said the opinion poll by Central Media Development (CMD) Limited is a scheme to tarnish the DPP government and described it a manipulated survey, saying there is no point discussing it .
Dausi, who is also government spokesman, dismissed the CMD Limited survey as mercurial or irrelevant or both.
“The only poll that matters is the one on election day. The opinion poll is wrong, disingenuous and mala-fide,” he said.
He termed the opinion polls unreliable and inaccurate “released out of paranoa, fallacy, political inertia and it’s a bunch of bull—- propaganda.”
Dausi questioned the methodology of the pollsters, saying it lacks credibility.
But CMD Limited which is owned among them Thomson Reuters journalist Mabvuto Banda, said tt is not a good idea to dismiss public surveys out of hand.
It explained the methodology it used in the survey conducted mostly by university students and journalists.
“A total sample size of 3,883 respondents was used and this sample was assigned to the regions and districts based on the population ratios of the 2008 population and housing census,” said CMD Limited in a poll report.
According to the national statistical office, the total population of Malawi in 2008 was 13,077,160 comprising of 1,798,930(Northern Region) representing about 13% of the total population, while the southern region contributed 5,858,035 representing 45% of the population, and finally the Central Region with 5,510,195 representing 42% of the total population.
Following the 2008 population distribution ( by region), the survey assigned the sample size of 3883 to the Northern, Central and Southern Region using 13%,42% and 45% respectively, translating to 500 respondents( about 13%) in the NorthernRegion, 1633 respondents (42%) in the Central Region and 1750 respondents ( 45%) in the Southern Region.
“The regional samples were further assigned to districts, by using the population distribution ratios as of 2008 population and housing census results. Blantyre, Lilongwe and Zomba were divided into city and district, i.e. Zomba City and Zomba district; Blantyre City and Blantyre district; Lilongwe district and Lilongwe City. The same applied for Mzimba which was divided into Mzimba district and Mzuzu City,” said CMD.
Further, due to logistical challenges, the team was not able to have interviews on Likoma Island, saying there is no result for Likoma district.
The interviews included and accounted for a sub-sample of 3,183 “likely voters,” corresponding to a presidential election turnout of 82 percent, it said.
CMD said the survey is based on a representative sample of all areas of the country, including the most rural; over 240 different sampling points included small rural villages. (e.g.Lanston Njema EA7, STA Chitekwere EA31, and phalombe TA mkhumba EA109) results from the full sample are subject to weighing the data to account for potential abnormalities in various sampling environments, improving the statistical margin of sampling error to +/-3.1 percent; and results for likely voters are subject to a margin sampling of sampling error of+/-3.6 percent.
The pollsters said the public claimed that President Muthaika needs to live the austerity talk and continue to pursue all roads of stopping and prosecuting corrupt activity.
It said people want Mutharika’s ruling DPP to “stop exaggerating the fruits of the economic reform as the so called fruits have not yet trickled down to the masses in full.”
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In the first place,Dausi is just a quisling servile of the unpopular President Muthalika in the history of our country.He stands for his empty and confused trends,he does not speak on behalf of the majority of the people, but his own opportunistic interests.The fact of the matter is that the both two so-called leaders are not the choice of the people of Malawi.In his first term,Muthalika has been proved an idiot and inept leader who has undoubtedly plunged our country into an irreversible and chaotic situation never experienced by Malawians in 52 years of independence.Far worse,he has no vision where… Read more »
Hon. Dausi, Sir. What do you mean by saying ‘ …………its mercurial ( which means erratic or unpredictable) and malafide (which means not genuine or in bad faith)? ‘Simply what you have said is:-‘ ……..its unpredictable and not genuine’. Now people write/talk inorder to effectively communicate so that the receiver should understand and act accordingly. Now if we start bombarding the public with big words we may not achieve our aim of effective communication.
Mr Kent Mphepo, thank you for being very objective writer, most of writers especially people commenting for Dpp, if can follow them along, you will find that all they see is no matter what, Peter and dpp must rule until 2024; even if they don’t deliver. I have said time and again that they can rule Malawi even beyond that time if God so decides, Malawi belongs to God first and leaders are just servants Psalms 75:1-7; their aguement is that because they are so many people there it means that north and central can not win an election, fine,… Read more »
aye aye aye unlearned people always dispute the truth
I think attacking Dausi as someone who is not versed with sampling procedures is uncalled for because even if it were me as someone well versed with Research Methodology as a discipline would have first questioned the methodology. As is the case with any surveys the issue of sample size and sampling procedures always come to mind and it is the first question one asks when results of a survey are out. Inu mwachita kuphunzira chotani kuti munyoze anzanu? Chanco yomweyi ili pa nambala 169 in Africa yi? Ife bwanji sitikunyozani yet we went to one of the top universities… Read more »
That’s what happens when you hire people with low IQs into positions that are very demanding. So Dausi thinks bombastic words can be used to clear the “bibi” DPP has become?
I am not going to debate on the popularity or otherwise of the president, Peter Mutharika. Instead, I will put down some of the points made in outgoing president of Ghana’s concession speech. It is up to you the readers to relate it to our Malawi situation. Mahama lost the elections on July 7, 2016 after ruling Ghana for one term only of 4 years. He conceded defeat and took full responsibility for his loss. Not only did he congratulate the new president, he also advised him to avoid the pitfalls that brought him down. 1) He warned him to… Read more »
What is the REAL poll rating of Mutharika and Chakwera. The way the poll has been presented in the articlesis really myopic. How can an entire story talk about the previous and current rating of the twof all olitical leaders? It sounds agenda-led.
kodi angasewere ndi DPP ndan kungoti amene amapanga reseachwo anangosowa chochita amenewo.
Countrymen, Let me congratulate the man I fondly call the “Ngwazi Boy” for climbing to this critical position which I consider the life-blood of any government’s public image. For sure, Mr. Dausi is a capable person in many ways. He always amazes me with the rare charisma and a flare of flowery language that God has endowed him with. I also admire the pride that he attaches to his Catholic values as he discharges his duties particularly as he faces the public with various controversial matters. Not many of us are willing to identify ourselves with our faith when discharging… Read more »
people have a lot of things to do in their offices..Zomwezi mpaka dissertation. Two three four sentences are enough.