The presidential debate that was much hyped by the media didn’t materialise as expected since Raila Odinga decided to boycott the 90-minute opportunity to do an exposition of public policy.
Politics is a game of numbers and it was very important for both candidates to show up for the interview. The first tier of debaters, George Luchiri Wajackoyah and David Mwaure Waihiga, witnessed the same, with Wajackoyah not showing up last minute, owing to his assertion that he wanted all the four presidential candidates to debate on the same platform.
It’s interesting to note that this seems not to have been the condition for the running mate debate since Justina Wamae ably debated with Ruth Mutua on that platform.
This goes to give credence to the assertion that Wajackoyah could be a state-sponsored candidate to eat into the votes of the youth that naturally were under the hustler nation. Interestingly, when he launched his manifesto, the dates were brought forward to coincide with that of the Kenya Kwanza one in order to eclipse the latter. These machinations are part of the political process either way.
One would ask what value does having presidential aspirants who scored less than five per cent in opinion polls debate on national television. In my humble submission, such debates add value in that they are able to help bring to the fore certain issues that Kenyans need to reflect on as they make their political choices.
The platform would therefore serve as an opportunity to harvest ideas through the precipitation of a robust national conversation. For example, whether positive or not, Wajackoyah has managed to have us debate the legalisation of Cannabis Sativa, popularly known as bhang, in ways never seen before, yet the late Kibra MP Ken Okoth who died three years ago in July 2019, had introduced this matter in Parliament.
Sometime in May last year, as we were coming up with what issues to address economically, in terms of cash crops and value addition, a certain prolific MP in UDA robustly brought up the matter, going as far as demonstrating the kind of products that can be processed from Cannabis. In the end, the social ills associated with abuse far outweighed the benefits though.
One cannot fail to notice that the withdrawal of Raila Odinga from the debate had everything to do with the fact that Rigathi Gachagua performed beyond the expectations of his nemesis and that, the debate in a considerable way diminished the iconic stature of Martha Karua.
Raila’s handlers therefore must have feared that a direct address between him and his greatest rival, William Ruto, would have exposed him in ways that they didn’t want to happen. This is largely because of the strange cohabitation of yesteryear reformists with the forces of establishment, status quo and dominance, in an elaborate move of self –preservation.
Politics is a game of numbers. Millions followed the debate with Citizen TV alone getting 176,327 viewers on YouTube live, as William Ruto got free airtime to prosecute his agenda.
Any publicity is good publicity and this mattered a lot to the UDA party leader since the mainstream media has been giving him less airtime as compared to his competitor, something that even the Media Council has proven in its research on media monitoring.
The debate ended up being more of an interview between Ruto and journalists Erick Latiff and Yvonne Okwara Matole. The two journalists were out to prove themselves, noting very well that the previous ones had been adjudged as having dwelt on trivialities rather than addressing the real problems that bedevil the common mwananchi.
On this occasion, this proved to be even truer, since the journalists were keener on throwing all manner of allegations that have been flying against the person of William Ruto. This included the Arror and Kimwarer dams issue, of which the Deputy President ably clarified that no money was lost since the sums used were insured, and that the Kenyan government had been taken to court in London for having unfairly terminated a contract.
When Yvonne Okwara asked about land and the Muteshi issue, Ruto clarified that he was a victim of fraudsters and that he had compensated the man based on the court ruling. Many Kenyans didn’t know that the fraudsters were in custody for their heinous acts as well.
Moreover, William Ruto came out as bold, courageous, intelligent and forthright. This session occasioned him the opportunity to, in his own words, clear the air on the many ‘false narratives’ that have been levelled against him over the years. When Erick latiff asked how much is enough, Ruto ably quipped ‘Enough Is Enough’ a phrase that has been trending ever since.
It’s interesting that there was a mass power outage across the country on this night, something similar to April 15 when there was mass fuel shortage during the UDA party primaries.
So William Ruto who was to be ‘roasted’ by a hostile media to benefit his nemesis, ended up benefiting from a presidential debate that he was hesitant to attend. As someone put it, this was a presidential debate, and the ‘president’ showed up.
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