With only less than 40 days to go for the August general elections, media houses and political aspirants are preparing for the presidential debate. The Debate is slotted to take place sometime in July. While this is a chance for any political hopeful to “sell” their ideas and the manifesto to the public, it’s also a chance for their public to critic and scrutinize them.
Presidential debates have been very common in the United States. On September 26,1960 the first presidential debate was held between U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy, the Democratic nominee, and Vice President Richard Nixon, the Republican nominee, in Chicago at the studios of CBS’s WBBM-TV.
Kennedy and Nixon debated four times with the next presidential debate occuring on 1976, after which debates became a regular feature of all presidential campaigns.
Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition has stated that they are ready for this year’s Kenya’s presidential debate . Martha Karua claimed she would love the debate while Raila Odinga claimed he will only participate if other aspirants will be there.
,”I agree (with Karua) but other people have rejected it. I have participated before and the other time I debated alone so it will depend on the availability (of candidates) and preparations.”
Stated Raila.
Televised Presidential campaigns in Kenya started in 2013. They focused more on the president and the deputy president. The lead commercial media houses led this debates and they presented a chance for the aspirants to face public scrutiny.
In 2017 the then government led by Uhuru Kenyatta never showed up for the presidential campaigns. Kenyans never had a chance to ask questions and listen to the agenda’s of the then incumbent government or scrutinize them at the debates.
While political debates are a good thing they should not only come at the election season but also during various times before and after the elections. This year’s debate is a chance for Kenyans to get informed before choosing which presidential candidate to elect.
The Media Council of Kenya (MCK), the Media Owners Association (MOA) and the Kenya Editors Guild (KEG) are finalizing preparations for the debate after which a date will be announced soon.
However the Kenya Kwanza Coalition had stated that their Party Leader will not show up for the presidential debates claiming the media houses are biased against him . Kenya Kwanza’s Director Of Communications for the presidential campaigns, Hussein Mohamed cited
,”unequal allocation of coverage, compounded by biased framing and negative profiling of the Kenya Kwanza Alliance campaign and personalities affiliated to it”.
The Kenya Editors Guild president, Churchill Otieno however, has re assured everyone that measures are being put in place to ensure the debates will maintain fairness, independence, accountability and integrity. He stated this while addressing members of the press.
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