Raila Odinga, one of the two main presidential candidates in Kenya, will not participate in the electoral debate scheduled for Tuesday, his campaign team announced on Sunday, accusing his rival William Ruto of wanting to evade certain themes, such as corruption.
William Ruto “demanded that the debate not focus on corruption, integrity, ethics and governance, key existential issues facing Kenya,” the campaign spokesperson wrote in a statement. by Raila Odinga, a historic figure in Kenyan politics.
“Any debate without these questions would be an insult to the intelligence of Kenyans. That is why we have no intention of sharing a national podium with someone who lacks basic decency,” he said. .
Mr Odinga and his running mate Martha Karua will instead hold a televised public meeting in the eastern wards of the capital Nairobi, “with ordinary Kenyans to offer (their) solutions to the challenges facing the country and ordinary people”.
This announcement follows a letter sent Thursday by the campaign manager of Wiliam Ruto to the organizers of the big debate on July 26.
Mr. Ruto “is ready to answer any questions and to talk about any subject that will arise during the debate”, he wrote, while conditioning his presence.
“We expect moderators to allocate equal time to the various topics that affect Kenyans and to give applicants a fair opportunity to respond to them,” he explained.
“For this, we wish to know in advance the number of minutes that will be allocated to the respective interventions on the topics including, but not limited to, governance and integrity, agriculture, health, SMEs and industry, housing, the digital economy, foreign policy, etc.”
In a press release on Sunday evening, the organizers confirmed that the debate would be held on Tuesday.
“We continue to mobilize all stakeholders. (…) We are committed to making the debates as inclusive and representative as possible, for the benefit of the Kenyan people”, they write.
“As per the Presidential Debate Guidelines, we have shared the topic areas with all candidates and the moderators will endeavor to cover all said topics within the allotted time. (…) The moderators will select the questions to be asked and will only share them NOT with candidates. They will NOT meet with campaign teams or candidates,” they add.
If four candidates are in the running, the presidential election on August 9 promises to be a duel between the historical opponent of Kenyan politics Raila Odinga and the outgoing vice-president William Ruto.
Outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta, who cannot run for a third term, announced in March that he would support his former rival Odinga, formalizing his break with his vice-president William Ruto.
Raila Odinga, 77, has made the fight against corruption one of his main campaign themes in the face of a competitor with a sulphurous reputation, who is notably the subject of corruption charges in an ongoing case since the year last.
William Ruto, 55, arises, representing the “resourceful” of the little people against the alliance of political dynasties embodied by MM. Kenyatta and Odinga, whose fathers were respectively the first president and vice-president of independent Kenya.