TUJU HITS BACK: Nobody contacted me about presidential debates

Jubilee Party Secretary General Raphael Tuju has today claimed that the party was never contacted by any presidential debate organiser.

The much awaited debate slated for the 10^th of July, was somewhat dealt a major blow after the two top presidential candidates, President Uhuru Kenyatta and NASA flagbearer Raila Odinga decided to pull out.

Speaking to KTN news during an interview, Tuju defended his stand by saying that he only heard about the debate on media but was not contacted by anyone concerning his party’s participation.

At the moment, there are eight presidential candidates, six of which were to begin the two-phased debate on the first day, then followed by the two top candidates the following day.

Tuju said,”It is good to be honest and in this particular respect, the media fraternity which was involved dropped the ball. I am the Secretary General of the Jubilee Party, I have not talked to a single organizer, none of them talked to me, none of them called me to explain anything.”

He also challenged Presidential debates organising committee chairman Wachira Waruru to come and and clarify if they communicated.

The JP Secretary General also blasted the media, saying that they were “too arrogant”, arranging and advertising a debate without contacting the campaign teams.

At the moment, President Uhuru Kenyatta, Raila Odinga, Ekuru Aukot, Abduba Dida, Cyrus Jirongo, Joseph Nyagah, Michael Wainaina and Japheth Kavinga, having been cleared to vie, are the presidential candidates expected to attend the debate.

However, Ekuru Aukot of Thirdway Alliance has called for an all-inclusive presidential debate devoid of discriminatory policy. He has claimed that the to-be-used debates format is ‘unconstitutional, discriminatory and segregates candidates based on unverified popularity assumptions picked from skewed polls. ‘