Gatundu South Member of Parliament Moses Kuria has announced that Kenya Kwanza will not participate in both presidential and deputy presidential debates this month.
Taking to his social media pages, Kuria who is also running for Kiambu County governorship under his Chama Cha Kazi party says UDA pair of William Ruto and his running mate Rigathi Gachagua will stay away from the scheduled debates.
Gachagua is expected to face off with his opposite running mates from Azimio La Umoja-One Kenya, the Agano party and Roots party on July 19th at the Catholic University of East Africa.
The vocal legislature cites bias basing on the recent Nairobi County gubernatorial debate which was drama-filled.
“The Zubeida Koome ‘Is your name Sakaja? Quip is a clear indicator of the media bias that Kenya Kwanza has been complaining of,” says Kuria. “The Kenya Kwanza Alliance will not participate in both the Running Mate debate and the Presidential Debate and that is final?” Kuria says.
However, contrary to Kuria’s allegations, the debate organisers have promised to conduct a fair exercise.
“Once again, we wish to reiterate our commitment to delivering a debate founded on the principles of fairness, integrity, independence and accountability as enshrined in the Presidential Debates Guidelines,” the secretariat said in a statement Wednesday.
The two debates will be moderated by journalists from KBC, TV47, NTV, KTN and Citizen TV.
Linda Alela of TV47 and John Jacob Kioria of KBC will moderate the first tier debate while KTN’s Sophia Wanuna will moderate the second debate together with NTV’s James Smart.
The first tier debate will be held from 6:00 pm to 7.30 pm while the second tire debate will run from 8 pm to 10 pm.
Citizen TV’s Trevor Ombija will moderate the pre-debate analysis from 5 pm.
“The moderators have been selected based on rigorous criteria that, among other things, endear the principles of impartiality, fairness and objectivity, a strong understanding of Kenyan political landscape and and the major issues of this election,” added the secretariat.
The 2022 Presidential Debate will be held at the Catholic University of East Africa on July 26.
