With President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga pulling out of the much awaited 2017 Presidential debate, media houses are staring at a possible loss of sh300 million.
The multi-million shilling debate has been challenged in court by one Presidential candidate, Abduba Dida, further throwing it into disarray.
The debate has been organized by Debates Media Limited-a conglomerate of Royal Media Services, Nation Media Group, The Standard Group and other small media outlets.
A total of sh100 million has been pumped into the debate which in turn, has promised the three largest media houses sh200 million in committed advertising.
On Wednesday, Uhuru’s handlers threw a spanner into the works after announcing that he would miss out on the debate.
Minutes later, NASA’s Raila Odinga in a statement also pulled out of the debate.
The two Presidential candidates cited that the organizers of the event did not consult them.
Head of Jubilee Party Raphael Tuju on Wednesday termed the organizers of the event as “unprofessional”.
He said that he only received a letter of invitation to the debate yesterday (Wednesday) and it has just been addressed to “Jubilee Party” rather than him as the Secretary General or the party’s Executive Director.
However, the organizing Chairman who doubles up as Royal Media Services CEO Wachira Waruru said they have done everything that was supposed to be done accordingly.
The debate was set to be held at Catholic University.
On July 17, a debate pitting running mates William Ruto (Jubilee) and NASA’s Kalonzo Musyoka has been scheduled.
At this point, it is not clear if they too will pull out.
Aware of a court case that seeks to throw out the debate, the organizers are frantically trying their best to have the debate go on as slated or lose millions of shillings.