NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 25 – Azimio La Umoja – One Kenya Presidential candidate Raila Odinga will hold his televised town hall meeting in Jericho, Nairobi on Thursday.
This was confirmed by the outfit’s campaign Secretariat on Monday ending speculation of a possible airwave clash between the town hall session and the Tuesday presidential debate which Odinga vowed to boycotted.
“The meeting will be on Thursday,” the secretariat stated.
On Sunday, Odinga’s Spokesperson Professor Makau Mutua announced that he will not participate in the debate that would have seen him share the stage with Kenya Kwanza Presidential candidate William Ruto.
In a statement announcing Odinga would boycott Tuesday’s debate, Mutua accused Ruto of trying to dodge discussions on critical issues.
Ruto “has demanded that the debate not focus on corruption, integrity, ethics, and governance — the key existential questions that Kenya faces,” Mutua said.
“Any debate devoid of these questions would insult the intelligence of Kenyans. That is why we do not intend to share a national podium with a person who lacks basic decency.”
Odinga’s announcement follows a letter earlier sent Ruto’s Director of Communications Hussein Mohammed to the debate organizers saying he was “ready to answer any question and speak to any matter that arises during the debate” but added that his attendance was “contingent” on certain matters.
“We expect that the moderators will allocate equal time to issues affecting Kenyans and equally allow candidates a fair opportunity to address them,” the letter said.
“To that end, we wish to know in advance the number of minutes that will be allocated to respective interventions including, but not restricted to governance and integrity, agriculture, healthcare, MSMEs and manufacturing, housing, the digital economy, foreign policy, and so on and so forth,” it continued.
The debate organizers have insisted that “the moderators will select the questions to be asked, and shall NOT share the same with the candidates”.
“They will NOT meet with any of the campaign teams or the candidates,” they added in the statement.
The organizers of the presidential debate have since confirmed that the debate will still proceed despite Odinga’s withdrawal.
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