Presidential race rivals to face-off in live debates
By Rawlings, March 3, 2022
Presidential candidates in the August 9 election will square it out in live debates in July.
This even as editors insisted that media house had not taken sides or position on the election.
Media Owners Association (MOA), Media Council of Kenya (MCK) and Kenya Editors Guild (KEG) have jointly announced that the candidates will be accorded an opportunity to tell Kenyans what they intend to achieve should the win the August 9 election.
Yesterday, the organisers led by MCK Chief Executive David Omwoyo, KEG President Churchill Otieno and MOA chairman Stephen Gitagama said the specific dates and venues will be announced later.
“We are pleased to announce the partnership between Media Owners Association, the Media Council of Kenya and Kenya Editors Guild to organise the 2022 Presidential and Deputy Presidential Debates that will take place in July 2022, in consultation with Political Parties, ahead of the August 9th General Election,” they said in a joint statement.
Free expression
They pledged give Kenyans quality issue-based presidential and deputy presidential debates that will facilitate effective public participation in this year’s election.
“The strength of any democracy depends on citizen participation in issues of governance where the culture of a country values and protects the free expression of ideas. In Kenya, we have walked a long journey – from the days of the one-party system to multi-party and finally to the second liberation – to expand the space of political discourse,” they said.
Editors maintained that the media would remain neutral and professional even if some media owners had taken political positions.
“The news media in Kenya hΩave no candidate in the elections that will happen this year. As media entities and newsrooms in our country as we go about covering elections, we have no candidate,” said Otieno.
Takes sides
He added: “There are individuals who own media enterprises and Kenya being a free market, every Kenyan has a right and opportunity to participate in business and that does not deny them their rights to participate in the elections as individuals.”
He asked the media owners who choose to take sides to do so openly, but added that professionals must be given the chance to manage the news process without interference.
“We cannot begrudge media owners who chose to take sides. But the professionals must be given the chance to do what they must do in managing the news process,” he said.
Clifford Machoka will head the Presidential Debates Secretariat while Leo Mutisya from Media Council and Kenya Editor’s Guild Chief Executive Officer Rosalia Omungo will be part of the Secretariat.
In 2013, eight candidates engaged each other in two debates, each over two hours long, while in 2017, the media organised two presidential debates and one deputy presidential debate.