After successful Nairobi gubernatorial and deputy presidential debates, Kenyans are looking forward to the presidential debate that will be held on July 26 at the Catholic University of East Africa.
All presidential candidates namely; Waihiga Mwaure of Agano, Roots party’s George Wajackoya, Raila Odinga(Azimio-OKA) and William Ruto of Kenya Kwanza are expected to show up for the debate without fail.
Mwaure is expected to debate with Wajackoya whereas Ruto and Odinga are expected to face each. The criteria of who is to contest who in the debate is reached upon how the candidates performed in the recent two opinion polls.
A viral statement purportedly from Raila’s presidential campaign secretariat spokesperson Prof. Makau Mutua, however listed a number of terms and conditions that must be met to ensure that the environment is safe for Raila to participate in the debate.
The statement dictates that organizers should ensure that the space between Raila and Ruto is 100m wide because they fear that Ruto might turn violent. The conclusion might have been reached based on Ruto’s admission that he nearly slapped president Kenyatta in a leaked audio clip.
“To protect Azimio candidate from possible violence or slaps, the space from between candidates should be at least 100m wide, considering that one candidate comes from a very athletic community. Alternatively, presidential security should stand between the candidates during debate,” read condition number 5 in the list.
Aside from that, the organizers/moderators are to ensure that none of the participants is allowed to arrive late. The statement further suggests that none of the candidates should enter the debating stage with phones, earpieces, cheat notes or any other gadgets.
The authors of the statement also want lie detectors attached on each candidate and results should be displayed immediately.
“Anger management certificates should be required for all candidates,” ‘Mutua’ said, adding that all the candidates should participate in one debate to avoid the two horse narrative.
Raila Odinga Presidential Campaign Secretariat press secretary Dennis Onsarigo however flagged the document detailing the terms and conditions that Azimio team had allegedly put forward before Raila participates in the presidential debate as fake thus indicating that it did not originate from the secretariat.
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