Dear Editor,
It was a joy to read D. Ramprakash’s letter captioned ‘Without greater transparency there will continue to be questions about poll’ (SN, May 15). Clearly, the writer has no agenda and presents his views professionally. He does not denigrate the poll or attack the pollster, quite unlike Dr Anand Persaud who condemned the poll and felt it should not be published even before he got answers to his query, and Freddie Kissoon who discredited the poll because he could not verify the employment of the pollster Vishnu Bisram.
The near twenty-year history of the pollster’s record of accurately predicting elections does not matter in evaluating whether the pollster is qualified to conduct polls, according to Kissoon. Only the pollster’s employment and the names of the executives of the NACTA matter in determining whether Bisram’s polls are credible and accurate. Almost all Guyanese and other Caribbean nationals respect my polls and my reputation as a pollster. They don’t need to know the name of my employer. They applaud and have faith in my polls. So I am not troubled by Kissoon’s negative views of me or my polls. I advise both Kissoon and Dr Persaud to emulate and follow the advice of Ramprakash – be courteous and civil to other writers and “be respectful” to me and to the poll until they produce evidence that the findings do not reflect reality and or until they produce findings from their own polls that contradict mine.
Unlike Kissoon and Persaud who sought to malign the poll and my professional integrity, Ramprakash offers encouragement and recommendations on how the poll can be better. Ramprakash describes their comments as “offensive.” From the outset when Prof Baytoram Ramharack, Mr Ravi Dev and myself started conducting polls it was made clear that our intention was to institutionalize polling in Guyana. We have been open to ideas to improve our work. But all we have got are condemnations – first starting with Kissoon in the late 1980s who wrote: “The polls were conducted in the basement of Ramharack.” And Kissoon has engaged in a daily tirade against the government and frequent condemnations of Opposition Leader Robert Corbin. And Kissoon wants Bisram to consult him on conducting polls in Guyana.
I thank Ramprakash for his helpful and respectful commentary and suggestions in polling. Most of the points he raised have been adhered to in my polls. And most of the queries he has have been answered in responses to Persaud.
With regards to the “polling organization,” as I have previously explained, NACTA was founded by a Trinidadian whose vision was to focus on various aspects of life in Caribbean society and people in America. Individuals of the group have done work in Guyana and Trinidad and elsewhere. Polling was not envisioned as one of its activities, because polling was being conducted by our associate Dr Ramharack under the name Turkeyen Research & Polling Institute (TRPI). Several teachers, including myself and Mr Dev, joined Ramharack in conducting polls in Guyana. Kissoon condemned those polls because he claims that as a UG academic he was not consulted. When Ramharack ‘eased up’ on polling, I was urged by members of NACTA to fill the void given my experience in assisting with TRPI polls. I started conducting polls (with the help of other teachers) not only in Guyana but in Trinidad (1995), India and elsewhere, and was urged to publish them under the ‘NACTA’ brand. That is how the NACTA polling institute developed. I conduct the polls with the assistance and support of other teachers, students and educators from NY and from the societies where I poll.
There is no fixed number of people who assists with the polls or engages in interviewing respondents. In different societies, I use a different number of people and it is also conditioned on affordability. People were interviewed at random (live). A quota sample was used based on ethnicity. In Guyana and Trinidad, ethnicity is the primary determinant of voting as I have consistently found in polls and discussions with others, including lecturers from UG and UWI. I should note, however, that in my polls on the 2006 general elections in Guyana and 2007 elections in Trinidad, urban Indians voted somewhat differently from rural Indians.
I should note that Bisram’s polls under the NACTA brand are well known internationally having been in existence for almost 20 years. Guyanese know the name just like Americans know the Gallup or Quinnipiac or Marist or some other name. In America, people don’t question reputed pollsters. With a near perfect record, one expects that the NACTA (Bisram) findings would be respected unless they were contradicted by the findings of other pollsters.
Again, I wish to applaud Ramprakash for his pleasant commentary on polls, of which he seems to display a healthy understanding. He is a pragmatist who recognizes what can and should be published by pollsters and where they should be published. I urge others to pay heed to his recommendations and advice.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
