Ruto To Show Up For Presidential Debate

Deputy President William Ruto will attend the 2022 Presidential Debate set for Tuesday, July 26 and will face his Azimio la Umoja opponent, Raila Odinga.

Speaking during a press conference on Thursday, July 21, WSR Presidential Secretariat Director of Communications, Hussein Mohamed confirmed that the second in command will attend the debate at the Catholic University of East Africa (CUEA) in Nairobi.

The secretariat revealed that the debate will see Ruto highlight key issues affecting Kenyans ahead of the August 9 general elections.

“I confirm that Ruto will attend the debate and in the 1hr and 30 mins we should be given details on the slated time for debating issues facing Kenyans,” Hussein addressed.

Ruto had initially indicated on Monday, July 18 that he was yet to decide whether or not he would attend the debate.

In addition, the team indicated that they had written to the organisers of the debate with demands towards them ahead of the big showdown.

Ruto's Team Attacks Presidential Debates Organisers

Mohamed particularly poked holes in the deputy presidential debate, accusing the moderators of mainly touching on Ruto's running mate, Rigathi Gachagua's focus on President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday, July 19.

"It is sad that after one hour and thirty minutes of a debate being watched by millions of Kenyans and across the world nobody even heard a proposal about what they are going to do about healthcare or manufacturing

"This is why we are saying that they should make public the time allocated for these issues," he noted.

The former Citizen TV news anchor blamed the moderators for twisting their questions to the point that it forced Gachagua to trivialize the agenda and choose personalities instead.

"The format of the debate has already been agreed to by all parties. If Kenyans think that they should allocate more time, we have no problem. If they want to move it to two hours, the better.

"But if the moderators are focused on non-issues, then it is pointless. The 1 hour 30 minutes would have been enough if the moderators were not focused on personalities and relations that do not matter," he added.

While promising to make public their report of the debate once the analysis is complete, Hussein also revealed that Azimio la Umoja One Kenya running mate, Martha Karua, was favoured by being given more time to address her issues compared to Gachagua.

"Gachagua is actually on record telling the moderators to focus on issues. Ultimately, Karua got 39 minutes while Gachagua got 32 minutes," he added.

Martha Karua and Rigathi Gachagua shake hands during the 2022 Deputy Presidential debate. /PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES KENYA