Roots Party candidate Prof George Wajackoyah says he will not take part in next week’s presidential debate if he will not share a platform with the other three candidates.
Wajackoyah accused the organizers of the debate of discrimination, even as he decried the formula used to arrive at the current format where the first debate features candidates who have polled less than five percent in three recent opinion polls and the second with candidates who have polled above five percent in the same survey.
Speaking during a TV interview, the Roots Party flag bearer says he will not be a party to it if he will not be accorded a chance to face off with all the other candidates.
“If you go to Canada, UK, US, China, Singapore, all presidential candidates are put together for people to see their body language, how they answer questions, how they look at each other, how they check the temperatures and temper, But these guys come in and say this is how it should be, No, I will boycott it,” he said
Wajackoyah who had been placed on tier two alongside Agano Party’s David Waihiga Mwaure claimed the organizers have no justification, neither is it the Constitution nor in any law, that the debate should be held as presently scheduled.
He described the current debate format as skewed, even as he expressed confidence that Kenyans will still vote for him whether he makes an appearance or not. He protests being made to feel he doesn’t have the same standing as candidates in tier one, a position he says he has communicated to the organizers.
“I will not participate unless there is Raila Odinga, William Samoei Ruto, Mwaure, and I on the same platform speaking before Kenyans, for Kenyans to make an informed choice,” he charged
Having been cleared by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to contest the country’s Presidency, Wajackoyah says he had earned the right to be treated equally to Ruto and Raila.
“You cannot just come out with a suit from Havard, or Oxford or University of Nairobi, and because you are a journalist, and you know too much Kizungu, you come and tell a presidential candidate this is how we have arranged it, and these are the rules, hell no,” he said
