At 7:45pm Monday night Kenya rewrote its electoral history as an unprecedented debate among the eight candidates from among whom Kenyans will pick their Fourth President next month hit the airwaves.
Watched on television and listened to on radio by millions across the world, a process complimented by live streaming Online, the debate turned out to be the single most important bid in the road to getting a successor for President Kibaki.
Apart from the six initially announced by the debate organisers as the final list, there were also two more additions — Mr Paul Muite and Mr Mohammed Dida.
They joined in following a court order that almost threw the debate in a spin but was sorted out through late invitation for the two to join the debate at Brookhouse School, Karen.
The candidates started arriving at the venue over an hour before the kick off. Restore and Build Kenya’s James ole Kiyiapi was the first to arrive at the venue, followed by Martha Karua (Narc Kenya), Peter Kenneth (Eagle Alliance), Musalia Mudavadi (Amani Coalition), Raila Odinga (CORD), Jubilee Alliance’s Uhuru Kenyatta and Mohamed Dida of the Alliance for Real Change.
“If the constitution is implemented and governance issues corrected then ethnicity will be a forgotten story,” declared Dida.
Prof Kiyiapi said: “I want a government of inclusion where ministers and accounting officers are picked fairly and on merit”.
Uhuru said: ‘Ethnicity has been a battle for resources where those in power feel they and their people are entitled to a bigger share of the cake. This can be dealt with through devolution and distribution of resources equitably.”
Ethnicity real
Karua’s opening line was: “To deal with ethnicity I will ensure we equalise development in all areas by deliberately giving more funds to undeveloped areas.”
Raila said: ‘Ethnicity is a disease of people who are in competition for resources but we now have a legal framework that can deal with this problem so that we can have a Kenya for all.”
Kenneth declared: “The problem of this country is due to poor and weak leadership and if it was dealt with speedily impunity could have been a thing of the past.”
Mudavadi insisted: “Ethnicity is real has brought a sense of insecurity among communities. If an audit was done in the public and private sectors you will find a lot of inequality along tribal lines.”
Read details….http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000077131&story_title=Kenya-Presidential-candidates-face-off-in-debate
Leave a Reply