KBC Angrily Reacts To Eleventh Hour Changes To Deputy Presidential Debate

The Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) has unleashed a strong statement in response to unexplained d-day changes to the moderators of the ongoing Deputy Presidential debate.

Acting KBC Managing Director Samuel Maina expressed his shock at the changes which saw KBC political reporter Jacob Kioria and TV47’s Linda Alela replaced by Zubeidah Koome of KTN News and Francis Gachuri of Citizen TV.

Maina further noted that the changes were an indication of a loss of confidence in presenters of the national broadcaster.

KBC journalist John Jacob Kioria and TV47's Linda Alela were dropped for Citizen TV and KTN News anchors, Francis Gachuri and Zubeida Kananu respectively for the first part of the presidential running mates debate on Tuesday, July 19, 2022. /PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES KENYA

"This new development of changing a moderator on the day of the debate is unfortunate. It is a clear indication that the organisers have no confidence in any of KBC's presenters.

"Any planned change should have been communicated properly, and valid reasons given to all interested parties since it was already public knowledge, through posters, that a KBC presenter would be part of the team. Finding out the change through different posters is not just embarrassing, but demeaning as well," Maina ranted in the statement shared through the station's social media platforms.

He added that KBC boasts of some of the country's best presenters and believed that the secretariat could have replaced those who did not meet the requirements with another within the media houses instead of sourcing from elsewhere.

"KBC is not just good for behind-the-scenes roles, I believe we have very good presenters at KBC and if one of them did not meet the requirements, they could have been replaced with another from the same media house. It shouldn't appear like the debates moderator positions are a reserve of a few media houses every election year.

"We appreciate the fact that presenters have different strengths and capacities, and this is why they are paired, to complement each other. Joint production means equal opportunity and equal representation, in all areas. As colleagues, we can do better in these joint productions as one family. We should strive for better," Maina revealed.

The showpiece which took place at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) main campus in Karen, Nairobi was Zubeida's second successive debate and offered her a chance to redeem herself after her outing in the gubernatorial edition went south.

They moderated the first session which featured candidates with a popularity of below 5 per cent in three recent opinion polls. This is where the Agano party's running mate Ruth Mutua and George Wajackoyah's running mate Justina Wamae did battle.