I watched the presidential debate organized by the Christian
community and Day Star University last night and I was a little disappointed by
the failure to attend by Uhuru, Raila and Mudavadi. I wondered what reason they
would give to this if they turn up for the Monday 25th presidential debate
organized by some of the mainstream media houses. Wouldn’t it look like they looked
down upon the Christian Community?
However, I was treated to a shock this morning when I came across
rumours that Jubilee’s torch bearer for the March 4th elections will
not attend the anticipated second presidential debate. Much later, I came
across the following release by Uhuru’s TNA party giving reasons why Uhuru
Kenyatta will not attend second presidential debate. I quote:
“ It was clear from the start that Moderator Linus Kaikai
had an axe to grind against Uhuru Kenyatta. He had evidently been coached and
directed to set
the stage for the other candidates to directly attack the Deputy Prime Minister, Honourable Uhuru Kenyatta, in the guise of addressing the vital subject of good governance.
As a moderator, Kaikai overstepped his mandate while addressing the governance issue and used the International Criminal Court (ICC) matter to probe only Kenyatta on his ethical qualifications and performance as a leader while not applying the same level of scrutiny to any of the other candidates’ glaring ethics and integrity issues
Aside from testing Mr Kenyatta’s patience and displaying the arrogance, bias and political affiliations of Kaikai; the debate in itself served no particular purpose other than providing Kenyans with an unsatisfactory and shallow plastic discourse that added no value to their knowledge or understanding of the pertinent issues relevant to their everyday lives.
Why didn’t Kaikai, for example, take up Muite’s gauntlet to challenge Raila when the Safina leader pointed that the CORD Presidential candidate should bear the greatest responsibility over issues arising from the ICC debacle? A good moderator should have seized this golden opportunity from a lawyer to interrogate Raila on the ICC. It would have mIn addition, the two moderators failed to put Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi on the spot for his alleged role in the complex Goldenberg Scandal when he served as Finance Minister.
Narc-Kenya leader Martha Karua was not grilled on her dubious role in the South Ngariama Ranch and allegations of moral impropriety, all hard issues in the public domain.
Peter Kenneth was not questioned on his suspected role in scandals involving the Kenya Re-Insurance Corporation and the Kenya Football Federation (KFF) when he was the head of the two institutions.
And James ole Kiyiapi was not questioned on his suspect role in the Education Fund scandal while Paul Muite was not taken to task on allegations that the Goldenberg Scandal chief architect Kamlesh Pattni paid him KSh20 million. Pattni made the allegations, complete with facsimiles of the cheques involved, and a senior business associate of Muite’s confirmed that the cheques were indeed banked in their firm’s account.
Worse, Odinga was not grilled on his suitability for office having confirmed in writing that he participated in the 1982 coup attempt, an illegal and unconstitutional enterprise aimed at overturning the constitutional order in Kenya.
With all due respect, we are of the opinion that with less than a fortnight to go before the polling day; our Candidate’s time can be better spent on the campaign trail rather than participating in a skewed, shambolic and farcical Second Debate.
The fact the media have already cornered themselves by having all the Presidential candidates participate in a lengthy, tedious and ultimately pointless process that does not bother to follow the most basic rules of moderated debate, including timing, should not be used to box the Jubilee team into the awkward corner of another unproductive debate.
It is our position that the voter has a right to directly connect with the candidates on the ground and preparing oneself for two days in readiness for the proposed second debate is not time well spent.
Based on these facts, we want to make it clear that the Jubilee Presidential Candidate, Uhuru Kenyatta, will not be taking part in the second debate.
We, however, wish to reiterate our readiness to meet with members of the Organizing Committee to discuss these concerns.
Yours Faithfully,
Jubilee Presidential Campaign Team"
the stage for the other candidates to directly attack the Deputy Prime Minister, Honourable Uhuru Kenyatta, in the guise of addressing the vital subject of good governance.
As a moderator, Kaikai overstepped his mandate while addressing the governance issue and used the International Criminal Court (ICC) matter to probe only Kenyatta on his ethical qualifications and performance as a leader while not applying the same level of scrutiny to any of the other candidates’ glaring ethics and integrity issues
Aside from testing Mr Kenyatta’s patience and displaying the arrogance, bias and political affiliations of Kaikai; the debate in itself served no particular purpose other than providing Kenyans with an unsatisfactory and shallow plastic discourse that added no value to their knowledge or understanding of the pertinent issues relevant to their everyday lives.
Why didn’t Kaikai, for example, take up Muite’s gauntlet to challenge Raila when the Safina leader pointed that the CORD Presidential candidate should bear the greatest responsibility over issues arising from the ICC debacle? A good moderator should have seized this golden opportunity from a lawyer to interrogate Raila on the ICC. It would have mIn addition, the two moderators failed to put Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi on the spot for his alleged role in the complex Goldenberg Scandal when he served as Finance Minister.
Narc-Kenya leader Martha Karua was not grilled on her dubious role in the South Ngariama Ranch and allegations of moral impropriety, all hard issues in the public domain.
Peter Kenneth was not questioned on his suspected role in scandals involving the Kenya Re-Insurance Corporation and the Kenya Football Federation (KFF) when he was the head of the two institutions.
And James ole Kiyiapi was not questioned on his suspect role in the Education Fund scandal while Paul Muite was not taken to task on allegations that the Goldenberg Scandal chief architect Kamlesh Pattni paid him KSh20 million. Pattni made the allegations, complete with facsimiles of the cheques involved, and a senior business associate of Muite’s confirmed that the cheques were indeed banked in their firm’s account.
Worse, Odinga was not grilled on his suitability for office having confirmed in writing that he participated in the 1982 coup attempt, an illegal and unconstitutional enterprise aimed at overturning the constitutional order in Kenya.
With all due respect, we are of the opinion that with less than a fortnight to go before the polling day; our Candidate’s time can be better spent on the campaign trail rather than participating in a skewed, shambolic and farcical Second Debate.
The fact the media have already cornered themselves by having all the Presidential candidates participate in a lengthy, tedious and ultimately pointless process that does not bother to follow the most basic rules of moderated debate, including timing, should not be used to box the Jubilee team into the awkward corner of another unproductive debate.
It is our position that the voter has a right to directly connect with the candidates on the ground and preparing oneself for two days in readiness for the proposed second debate is not time well spent.
Based on these facts, we want to make it clear that the Jubilee Presidential Candidate, Uhuru Kenyatta, will not be taking part in the second debate.
We, however, wish to reiterate our readiness to meet with members of the Organizing Committee to discuss these concerns.
Yours Faithfully,
Jubilee Presidential Campaign Team"
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