Uhuru, Raila will not take part in presidential debate

President Uhuru Kenyatta. He and Nasa presidential candidate Raila Odinga have said they will skip the planned presidential debate. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By BD TEAM

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Summary

• Jubilee Party Secretary-General Raphael Tuju Wednesday said the organisers had not formally contacted State House or the party regarding the debate.
• Mr Tuju challenged the organisers to show they had contacted the President's men formally.
• Mr Salim Lone, Nasa’s senior adviser, said the Mr Odinga will not participate in the debate under the current proposed format and stipulation.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and Nasa presidential candidate Raila Odinga will not participate in the much-touted presidential debates set for July 10 and 24.

Both candidates have cited lack of consultations between them and the organisers.

Jubilee Party Secretary-General Raphael Tuju Wednesday said the organisers had not formally contacted State House or the party regarding the debate.

“This debate is being organised through advertisements in the media by some people we do not know.

"They went ahead to give the dates of the debate with no consultation with the President," he said.

He added: "They have not contacted State House or the party. We do not know what the ground rules are and we won’t participate,” he said.

Mr Tuju challenged the organisers to show they had contacted the President's men formally.

“This whole thing smells of conmanship. Because at the bare minimum, they were supposed to get in touch with the campaign to fix a day. On whose behalf are the organisers are they acting, and what mandate do they have to organise the debate?” posed Mr Tuju.

Current format

Mr Salim Lone, Nasa’s senior adviser, said the Mr Odinga will not participate in the debate under the current proposed format and stipulation.

“However, the Nasa Presidential Campaign Secretariat has urged President Uhuru Kenyatta to be open to debating Mr Odinga on the issues affecting Kenyans in the present circumstance,” said Mr Lone.

The debate is being organised by Debates Media Limited, which is already engaged in a court battle with presidential candidate Abduba Dida.

Mr Dida's party, the Alliance for Real Change, has sued Debate Media Limited and the Media Council of Kenya, the organisers of the presidential debate.

Mr Dida wants the debates temporarily stopped as they will feature two categories of candidates: those who have already garnered more than five per cent popularity as per opinion polls and those who have not.

He argues that categorising the contenders for the top seat in the August elections is unfair and prejudicial to the other candidates.

In their reply, Debate Media Ltd said they stood to lose Sh200 million in advertising should the court prevent the discussions from taking place.

The company said it could further lose Sh100 million investment in cash.