President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday defended his move to skip the presidential debate attended by his close rival Raila Odinga.
Arguing that he saw no need for attending the much-awaited debate, Kenyatta said Kenyans should judge him based on the Jubilee Government track record.
“I don’t need to go to TV to debate because the development I have done speaks for itself. I’m meeting people on the ground, there are no votes in the television,” Kenyatta said in Nyeri and Murang’a yesterday.
He also criticised the media, saying that it was biased against his administration.
“The media never supported me in 2013, they have always been against me. I know it is the people with the votes,” the President said.
But Raila, who was also in Mt Kenya region, criticised Kenyatta for not attending the debate to explain his scorecard arguing such debates take place even in America where sitting presidents, including former President Barrack Obama attended.
He said Uhuru has no excuse why he failed to appear for the debate which would have given Kenyans an opportunity to interrogate both of them to make an informed decision on the person to vote for.
“I had expected to meet my brother President Kenyatta for the debate but unfortunately he did not attend and I cannot understand why. If he was there, Kenyans would have an opportunity to query us on various issues and make decision based on our answers,” he said.
And their allies in Jubilee and National Super Alliance (NASA) were yesterday divided over the impact of Raila’s sole participation in Monday’s presidential debate.
The performance of Opposition leader, who was the only attendee for the prime time show, also sharply divided the leaders, even as the subject became a campaign tool for the two teams in their hunt for votes.
While NASA leaders praised their presidential candidate his “sterling” performance at the debate that was held on Monday at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Jubilee team said the show was inconsequential and unable to give the Opposition leader an edge over the President.
“We do not think the appearance by Raila, even though unchallenged, affects the electoral profile of our candidate, for better or worse. He had his day with the entire media but miserably failed to sell his ideas. I do not remember him answering any question as specifically asked,” claimed Jubilee Secretary General Raphael Tuju.
But the head of the NASA presidential campaign team, Musalia Mudavadi, said the 90-minute interview accorded Raila the opportunity to articulate what he wants to do for Kenya, adding that they believed this manged to sway the undecided voters to their coalition.
How accountable
NASA leaders accused Uhuru of arrogance and hiding from Kenyans who wanted to ask him many questions, some related to how accountable he has run his Government.
But Jubilee’s Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wa argued that despite hogging all the airtime, Raila did not specifically tell Kenyans how he will transform the country.
“Even when he was challenged to give specific answers on how he would handle the land problem, how he will implement the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission report or even how different he could fight corruption, he did not give any specific answer,” Mr Ichung’wa said.
Jubilee Vice Chairman David Murathe insisted the ruling coalition was uncomfortable with the format of the debate.
“When the debate involves a President, the format must be of them being questioned on their records, on their scorecard and why they should be given another term. That must be different from a debate with other candidates who are giving their promises,” said Mr Murathe.
[Report by Moses Njagih, Protus Onyango, Allan Mungai, Dickson Mwiti and Harold Odhiambo]
