Roots Party presidential candidate George Wajackoyah maintains that he will not attend Tuesday’s presidential debate unless he shares a podium with all the candidates.
The party’s Spokesperson, Wilson Muirani, confirmed that Wajackoyah will not attend the debate “because we will not subject the incoming president to the joke of an already predetermined debate.”
“We would like to state that our presidential candidate Prof Wajackoyah will not attend the presidential debate because we will not subject the incoming President to the joke of an already predetermined debate,” reads the statement.
Wajackoyah’s absence from the debate was clear from the start, ostensibly because he threatened to boycott it on Sunday if his demands were not met.
Wajackoyah complained in his protest demand letter that the debate organizers had discriminated against him.
Wajackoyah said the fourth estate cannot decide the outcome of an election before the poll day.
“The notion that some candidates are trailing others or some leading others is baseless. We refuse to be counted as ‘,hers” in this important democratic duty of seeking the presidency,” the Party’s statement read.
Through the Party Spokesperson, Wajackoyah further said that the Presidential Debates team had not addressed concerns that he had brought to their attention in a letter dated July 21.
“We would like to however state that our candidate is available to share the same podium with all the four presidential candidates as we define out agenda to all Kenyans,” Roots Party concluded.
The current arrangement by the Presidential Debate Secretariat is to have a two-tier debate; the first featuring candidates whose popularity in the three most recent polls stood below 5 per cent while the second featuring candidates who polled above 5 per cent in the same surveys.
Wajackoyah was scheduled to face off against David Mwaure of Agano Party in the first tier of the debate.
The session will be held at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) main campus in Nairobi, and will be moderated by Ken Mijungu of KTN News and Smriti Vidyarthi of NTV.
The moderators of the second tier of the debate – that has Deputy President William Ruto pooled against Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya presidential candidate Raila Odinga – will be Eric Latiff of KTN News and Yvonne Okwara of Citizen Television.
