The Tuesday night presidential debate provided Kenyans with an opportunity to hear and interrogate their potential presidents.
Two candidates presented themselves while the other two boycotted, despite explanation by the organisers that the debate was about the people of Kenya and not merely a contest among the candidates.
Americans have come to attach so much importance to those debates that skipping them would amount to giving the opponent(s) an easy ride.
The 1960 Nixon-Kennedy debate set the stage for the tradition that is today steeped in American election calendar and emulated by many democracies in the world, Kenya included.
Together with the party convention, the two are crucial barometers for the Americans that some candidates have risen or fallen on these swords.
Here in Kenya candidates who for one reason or the other feel uncomfortable with the debate questions or set-up weave all manner of reasons for non-attendance.
President Uhuru Kenyatta did not attend the 2017 one and Raila Odinga followed suit this year.
It may be difficult to ascertain the damage that failure to attend has on a candidate(s) here in Kenya, but what's for sure is that it gives the attendees a huge advantage of leveraging the bully pulpit.
Such an audience is savoured by politicians such that not capitalising on it can only be attributed to the potential danger attendance would occasion.
Any post-debate damage control, as was being touted by ODM in the making of a town hall meeting will only invite a backlash as it would amount to pretending to be doing an exam paper after everybody else has done it.
Economic and political analyst
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