Collapse of presidential debate big disappointment to Kenyans

Excited anticipation of a televised presidential debate ahead of the August 8, 2017 General Election has been palpable. Five days to the July 10 date, President Uhuru Kenyatta and the National Super Alliance presidential candidate Raila Odinga - the main protagonists in the elections- have stunned the country by declaring that they will not participate in the debate.

Except, perhaps, for presidential aspirant Abduba Dida who had gone to court to stop the debate organised by Debates Media Ltd, a majority of Kenyans, no doubt, feel cheated.

The debate offered Kenyans an opportunity to weigh their leaders on a more serious platform than a campaign rally where the leaders have glossed over the issues that matter to them.

In the run-up to the 2013 General Election, there was a debate in which aspirants articulated their visions for the country. In a way, that debate helped shine light on the candidates. The voters, once benighted, are more discerning, thanks to the 2010 Constitution. The debate was the right forum where, say, President Uhuru Kenyatta would have defended his campaign agenda.

For Mr Odinga and the other candidates- who seek to offer alternative leadership- it would have offered them the opportunity to say what they can do differently to change the fortunes of Kenyans.

The reasons advanced by both parties for abstention sound hollow, unconvincing. Being president is serious business and those who aspire for the office must be tried and tested. In essence, the pressure-cooker situation in a televised debate will reveal the true character of those who seek to lead us away from rumbustious rallies. Out there in the open where no tough questions are asked, the candidates can afford to trundle out lofty ideas. But then, Kenyans want specific answers to their many pressing questions. By all means, a televised debate gives them that chance. It is a shame that that looks unlikely to happen.

Yet despite that, the cancellation highlights the folly of holding an election debate too late in the day where fairly speaking, most of the voters have made up their minds and the debate only serves to ratchet up the political temperatures and little else. That should not be the case.

By design, political debates should assist winnow the least suited candidates out of a race. Debates ought to promote a contest of ideas. It should be a stage to serve up melodrama.