A section of Jubilee MPs and staunch supporters of President Uhuru Kenyatta have criticized how NASA Presidential candidate Raila Odinga responded to questions at the Presidential debate on Monday.
Raila showed up at the debate alone as Uhuru kept off.
Both politicians from Kiambu County, Uhuru’s backyard cited that the former Prime Minister “ducked” questions.
Kiambu Senator Kimani Wamatangi on Tuesday during an interview with NTV, noted that the 90-minute debate was a mere public relations gimmick for Raila.
He said he had no grasp on issue put forward to him by moderators of the debate, Linus Kaikai of NTV and Joe Ageyo of KTN.
“I was fairly disappointed because it ended up being a 90-minute of him playing a P.R exercise; a P.R exercise that was devoid of any statement on what his way forward is,” lamented the Senator.
Wamatangi noted that though Raila attended the debate, he did not give straightforward answers to questions asked by the moderators.
“He invaded the debate itself but if you look at all the questions asked to him, he did not answer any question straightforwardly; he ducked everything,” added he.
Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wa said Raila failed to answer questions asked and dealt more on peculiarities.
“Did Raila Odinga answer questions as they were put to him? He did not. He dealt on peculiarities largely,” said the MP.
But Kibra MP Ken Okoth Defended Raila against claims he ducked questions and gave unsatisfactory answers.
“On the great part, he used that 90 minutes well and responded to all kinds of queries that came,” said Okoth.
On the question of why Uhuru failed to attend the debate, Ichung’wa defended the President citing that it was below his expectations.
He said that concerns he had raised earlier had not been addressed and as such, he could not attend a debate which he did not feel comfortable with.
Secondly, Ichung’wa said the organizers of the debate failed in their job since such a debate should be organized by independent bodies in consultation with political parties involved.
But in Kenya, it was organized by Debates Media Limited which only interest according to the Kikuyu legislator was to make profits.
“This debate is not modeled along the American standards in anyway whatsoever. The American debate is organized by an independent commission that is not for profit,” he quipped.
Uhuru: Why I Snubbed debate
President Kenyatta on Tuesday said attending the debate would have been a waste of time.
Uhuru added that he could not debate ”someone without an agenda for Kenya”.
“Do you want me to spend my time responding to Raila or commissioning projects? I decided that he will debate alone because I have nothing to debate with him. I will not waste my time there,” he said at a rally in Nyeri.
NASA: How we tricked Uhuru to miss the debate
NASA principal Kalonzo Musyoka said on Tuesday that they managed to trick the president into missing the debate.
He said president Kenyatta fell for the trick and left the opposition leader Raila Odinga to have his way and say for over 90 minutes of prime time on radio and national TVs.
Kalonzo said his decision to skip the running mates’ debate on July 17, was a calculated move to make Jubilee believe Mr Odinga would also skip the presidential debate.
“We tricked them… we knew those guys fear being accountable to the citizens and that is why I told Raila to seize the moment,” he said at a campaign rally in Makueni County.
Mr. Raila told Embu residents that he does not understand why the president skipped the debate.
“I was ready for him and wanted to question what he has done for the people,” he said.