Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya coalition party flag bearer Raila Odinga has maintained that he will not participate in the much-anticipated presidential debate.
The former Prime Minister was on Tuesday, July 26, scheduled to share the podium with United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party presidential candidate William Ruto who has confirmed attendance.
But speaking in Meru, Raila indirectly referred to his bitter rival as a thief with whom he cannot waste time sharing a podium with in the name of a presidential debate.
“Mimi siwezi enda kufanya mjadala na mwizi … Yeye ni muongo ambaye anasema uongo kila siku (I cannot debate with a thief… He (William Ruto) is a liar who tells lies every day),” Raila said in an apparent refernece to Ruto.
Raila, who will be giving his fifth and presumed the last attempt at the country’s top seat instead, said he will face off with Ruto at the ballot on Tuesday, August 9.
“Let us meet at the ballot,” Odinga said giving the strongest indication yet that he is uninterested to engage Ruto in the debate.
Earlier on, Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya coalition party presidential flag bearer Raila Odinga’s campaign spokesman Makau Mutua in a statement, said that Kenya’s longest serving opposition leader will instead hold a televised town hall session in Jericho, Nairobi.
The town hall meeting was postponed to a later date, Kivumbi.co.ke has learned.
His presidential campaign secretariate spokesperson Makau Mutua earlier in the morning maintained the ODM leader would not wrestle with a pig (Ruto) in the mad.
Raila’s confirmation he will skip the debate came minutes after Roots Party Presidential candidate George Wajackoyah stormed out of the Catholic University of East Africa (CUEA), the venue for the Presidential debate a few minutes after arrival.
Wajackoyah, who has promised to legalize bhang and prostitution should he succeed outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta, protested the decision by the organizers to segregate candidates based on their popularity ranking in the latest opinion polls.
“I am not attending the debate unless we are four,” Wajackoyah maintained.
