DP William Ruto at liberty to attend debate or not, says Kenya Kwanza Alliance

Deputy President William Ruto speaks to youth and women groups at his Karen residence in Nairobi in July 2020. [DPPS]

Kenya Kwanza Alliance presidential candidate and his running mate will decide whether to participate in the upcoming presidential debates.

Yesterday, William Ruto Presidential Campaigns Secretariat spokesman Hussein Mohammed said DP Ruto and his running mate Rigathi Gachagua are at liberty to participate in the debates slated for July 19 and July 26.

Hussein also accused the Media Council of Kenya of being biased against the alliance following its recent report showing that journalists prefer working with Azimio La Umoja coalition than their coalition which he said is not true.

“The role of Media Council is to ensure compliance of regulations by media companies and journalists, they should come out with data showing that our rivals are getting more coverage than us, instead of issuing statements that are unsubstantiated,” said Hussein.

He said it was not the work of MCK to do a poll on which political side was preferred for coverage and it was wrong to quote a simple misunderstanding during the coalition's National Delegates Conference to say journalists were uncomfortable covering them.

Hussein said early this year, two journalists from The Standard Group and Radio Africa Group were assaulted at ODM party headquarters and Kenya Kwanza Alliance has never done such a thing to journalists.

He said it was unfair for some media houses to pretend to be fair in the current political contest while they were not and that it was high time they came out openly to state which side they support.

“We are not saying that we must get coverage from any media house, but if any is siding with any political side it should come out and declare its stand,’’ he said.