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Uhuru to snub presidential debate


President Uhuru Kenyatta is not planning to participate in the much touted Presidential debate slated for July 10th and 24th for what the Jubilee party says is lack of communication between the organizers and State House.

Jubilee Party Secretary General Raphael Tuju said the organizers of the debate have neither contacted State House nor Jubilee party formally regarding the debate.

“This debate is being organized through advertisements in the media by some people we do not know. They went ahead to give the dates of the debate with no consultation with the president. They have not contacted State House or the party. We do not know what the ground rules are and we won’t participate,” he said.

Mr Tuju challenged the organiser’s to show that they have contacted the Presidents men formally.

CONMANSHIP

“This whole thing smells of conmanship. Because at the bare minimum they were supposed to get in touch with the campaign to fix a day. On whose behalf are the organisers acting, and what mandate do they have to organize the debate?” posed Mr Tuju.

The debate is being organized by Debates Media Limited.

Debates Kenya Limited is already engaged in a court battle with Presidential candidate Abduba Dida.

Mr Dida wants the debates temporarily stopped because they will feature two categories of candidates, those who have already garnered over five percent popularity as per opinion polls and those who have not.

He argues that categorising the contenders for the top seat in the August elections is unfair and prejudicial to the other candidates.

SH200 MILLION IN ADVERTISING

In their reply, Debate Media Limited, through Mr Wachira Waruru, said they stand to lose Sh200 million in advertising should the court prevent the discussions from taking place.

The company said it further stands to lose Sh100 million investment in cash.

Mr Waruru, also the chairman of DML Steering Committee of Presidential Debates, said Mr Dida will not be prejudiced as no determination has been made as to which part of the debate he will participate in.

He said the petition does not disclose any case of the violations of Mr Dida’s rights as alleged.

He said Mr Dida sought to obtain orders ex parte without making full disclosure of all facts.