Azimio la Umoja Presidential candidate Raila Odinga will boycott today’s presidential debate where he was scheduled to face off with his main rival Deputy President Dr. William Ruto of Kenya Kwanza Alliance.
The event organized by the Media Council of Kenya is set to be held in two tiers with the first one featuring Roots Party’s Prof. George Wajackoyah locking horns with his Agano Party counterpart David Mwaure. Wajackoya and Mwaure are polled below 5% in terms of popularity according to the latest opinion polls.
The second tier will see Dr. Ruto facing off with former PM Odinga. Both Ruto and Odinga enjoy popularity ratings of more than 5% according to the same opinion polls.
Kenya Kwanza candidate has confirmed that he will attend the debate as the organizers also confirmed that the event will go on as scheduled at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA).
“We confirm to the public that the 2022 Presidential debate will take place on Tuesday July 26, 2022 at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) main campus in Karen, from 4:00pm to 10:00PM.
“We continue to engage all stakeholders, including the various presidential campaign teams. We are committed to make the debates as inclusive and representative as possible, for the benefit of the Kenyan people,” the statement read in part.
Mr. Odinga, the self professed father of democracy is boycotting an event which is the best practice in modern day democracies that also stands to put Kenya on the international stage.
Presidential debate is not only a good exposure for candidates to to Kenyan voters and international community but it also offers a good opportunity to win undecided voter since it is a crucial platform for issue-based politics compared to public rallies.
But Raila’s fear to face off with Ruto can be blamed on his inability to defend Jubilee government failures and the State Capture which he used to fight when he was a genuine opposition figure.
The debate would also put the ODM leader to task and shiled the Azimio Chairman President Uhuru Kenyatta who is hell bent to plant him as his successor and control the next government.
It also comes at a time when Odinga has been exposed as President Kenyatta’s project and would have difficulties in explaining how he intends to fight land issues while he is funded by the same family he he accused of grabbing land that is the size of the former Nyanza province.
And real issues aside, Odinga is not a good debater and everybody expects the Deputy President to outshine him and dent is wanting image just two weeks to the August 9 elections.
The Ruto-phobia had seen the Azimio candidate issue threats to boycott the upcoming presidential elections after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) announced that they will not use manual voter register.
Odinga was quick to state that failure by IEBC to avail a manual voters register will see the Azimio outfit boycott the elections that are slated for August 9.
In 2017, the opposition chief boycotted fresh-polls citing lack of legal and constitutional guarantees after Supreme Court annulled presidential result saying the electoral commission (IEBC) had not followed the constitution.
Mr Odinga was setting his own terms as he demanded that fresh vote be held in an environment where everything that went wrong had been corrected.
“We know exactly what transpired in these last elections, we know what the IEBC did and we know that if we were to go back there will be no different results and that’s why will say there will be no elections on the 26 October,” he said.
But in boycotting a duel with Ruto, Mr. Odinga borrowing a leaf from his boss, President Kenyatta who backed out of the 2017 debates because the organizers changed the format to include all the eight candidates who contested in those elections.
