Ahead of the much-awaited presidential debate clash pitting Raila Odinga against William Ruto, Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party has tabled one demand and threatened to give the debate a wide berth should organizers fail to comply.
Azimio maintained that the debate should not be used as a forum for Ruto to ‘insult’ President Uhuru Kenyatta and urged the former Prime Minister to snub the event if it will amount to ‘sideshows’ instead of tackling important issues affecting voters.
The coalition added that Odinga will only take part if issues of corruption and integrity are part of the debate.
Azimio secretary general Junet Mohammed who was speaking at a campaign rally in Kitale on Friday, July 22 asserted that if the debate will be a repeat of what Kenya Kwanza Alliance deputy presidential candidate Rigathi Gachagua did, then it would be preferable for Odinga to skip it altogether.
He noted that the deputy presidential debate steered away from key issues and gave Gachagua a field day, peddling lies and bashing President Kenyatta who was not a participant.
Consequently, Mohamed maintained that: “Odinga will only participate in the debate if it focuses on integrity, corruption and governance. Anything short of that will see the former Prime Minister fail to attend.
“Some people are saying that we have a debate between William Ruto and Baba, is that even possible? Baba will attend the debate, this is my personal opinion and not that of Baba, if three issues will be discussed: integrity, corruption and governance. If there is going to be other issues, we want to send Embakasi East MP Babu Owino to debate with William Ruto,” said Mr Mohammed in Kitale.
He added: “If we are going to discuss issues which are not important like we saw with Rigathi Gachagua, as Secretary General of Azimio, I will send Babu Owino to battle it out with William Ruto. Our competitors want to debate about President Uhuru Kenyatta, let them go and look for him and not drag him into the debate.”
