Ruto Confirms He Will Face-off with Raila in the July 26th Presidential Debate

Deputy President William Ruto presidential campaign secretariat has confirmed that he will attend the much-anticipated presidential debate slated for July 26th.

The secretariat’s Director of Communications Hussein Mohamed said Ruto, who is eyeing the presidency on a UDA party ticket, is “ready for any questions” that will be posed to him by the debate’s moderators.

Hussein appealed to the presidential debates secretariat to ensure that the discussion is not trivialized and that candidates will be given adequate time to highlight the main issues affecting Kenyans.

“I confirm that Ruto will attend the debate and in the 1hr and 30 mins we should be given details on the slated time for debating issues facing Kenyans.”

“We have made a formal request to the Presidential Debates secretariat to make public the time allocation to issues affecting Kenyans, including governance and integrity, agriculture, healthcare, MSMEs, manufacturing, housing, digital economy, foreign policy, and so on,” Hussein said during a media briefing on Thursday.

Ruto’s team had previously threatened not to participate in the 2022 presidential debates citing media bias. Tuesday’s debate will take place at the Catholic University for Eastern Africa in Nairobi from 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm.

The televised debate will be conducted in two tiers, with the first featuring candidates with less than 5 percent approval ratings based on three recent opinion polls while the second-tier one will involve candidates who have polled above 5 percent in the same surveys.

This means Roots Party presidential candidate George Wajackoyah will face off with his Agano Party counterpart Waihiga Mwaure in the first-tier debate while Ruto will go head-to-head with Azimio La Umoja-One Kenya coalition party flagbearer Raila Odinga in the second-tier debate.