Category: World Service
Date: 17.11.2005
Printable version
Â鶹Éç listeners in Kenya have indicated they may be voting against the country's forthcoming referendum.
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More than 500 people responded to a request by Â鶹Éç Swahili to text the word 'banana' for yes or 'orange' for no.
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The four day radio survey results, announced yesterday on the Â鶹Éç Swahili service, showed that 81.5% would be voting against the draft constitution while only 18.4% said they would support it.
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Tido Mhando, Head of the Â鶹Éç Swahili service, said: "Kenya's draft constitution is of national importance and we wanted to give our listeners the opportunity to share what they think.
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"These responses, of course, do not amount to a representative sample of Kenyans but it does give good indications of what Â鶹Éç listeners in Kenya are feeling."
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Speaking to the Â鶹Éç Swahili service in an interview also broadcast yesterday, Kenyan journalist Amboka Andere said the Â鶹Éç survey mirrors earlier Kenyan polls: "While previous surveys had a number of people who had not yet made up their minds, it looks as though this time around most voters have already decided what to do."
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Â鶹Éç programmes in Kenya can be heard on Â鶹Éç FM relays in Nairobi 93.7 FM; Mombasa 93.9 FM and Kisumu 88.2FM and throughout the country on shortwave.
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Swahili speakers who want to hear further discussions on this and other key issues affecting Africa can also tune into Â鶹Éç programmes on the following stations:
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Radio Free Africa - 89.0 MHz in Arusha, 89.8 MHz in Mwanza, 88.2 MHz in Shinyanga, 88.8 MHz in Mbeya;
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Radio One - 89.5 MHz in Dar es Salaam, 95.3 MHz in Arusha, 100.8 MHz in Dodoma, 102.5 MHz in Mwanza; and on medium wave 1440 AM and 1323 AM.
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Notes to Editors
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Â鶹Éç Swahili is the window to Africa and the world bringing accurate and up-to-date information to listeners in East and Central Africa with news and current affairs, sports, entertainment and features, every day, seven days a week.
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For text and audio, go to bbcswahili.com.
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Â鶹Éç World Service is an international radio and online broadcaster delivering programmes and services in 43 languages.
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It uses multiple platforms to reach 149 million listeners globally, including SW, AM, FM, digital satellite and cable channels.
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It has more than 2,000 partner radio stations which take Â鶹Éç content, and numerous partnerships supplying content to mobile phones.
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Its international online sites, which include audio and visual content and offer users opportunities to interact directly with world events, receive more than 330 million page impressions a month.
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