George Wajackoyah, the presidential candidate for the Roots Party, has threatened to abstain from the upcoming presidential debate if he is not given the same platform as William Ruto of Kenya Kwanza and Raila Odinga of Azimio.
Wajackoya criticized the surveys used to evaluate his popularity, calling them deceptive.
In a statement on Thursday, he stated, “Our decision is informed by the fact that the polls used as a determinant to pair the presidential candidates are not factual because they are conducted by the pollsters with interests in some of the political parties participating in the presidential debate.”
He added that there is still time to “conduct credible polls that will show the true picture on the ground” before July 26 when the debate to held at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Karen, Nairobi.
“We look forward to our candidate attending the debate once our concerns are well addressed and our candidate matched in the right platform for the debate,” he said.
On Thursday, Presidential Debate Secretariat announced that Citizen TV’s Yvonne Okwara and Eric Latiff of Spice FM and KTN News as moderators of the presidential debate between Ruto and Odinga.
The debate between Raila and Ruto will be preceded by another debate featuring candidates who have polled less than 5 percent in the three recent opinion polls.
Those who polled less than 5 per cent including Wajackoya and David Mwaure of Agano Party. Their debate will be moderated by Smirti Vidyarthi of NTV and Ken Mijungu of KTN News.
The Secretariat explained that the moderators were carefully selected to ensure a balanced debate.
“The moderators have been selected based on a rigorous criterion that abides to among other things the principles of impartiality, fairness and objectivity, a strong understanding of the Kenyan political landscape and the major issues with this election,” the statement read.
The Secretariat also reported that panel discussions for both debates will be moderated by Joe Ageyo of NTV.
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