By Sarah Omondi
Kenya Kwanza Presidential candidate William Ruto will not attend the presidential debates over alleged media bias in his campaigns.
In a statement by his Director of Communication for his campaigns Hussein Mohammed, Dr Ruto said there was unequal coverage, compounded by biased framing and negative profiling of Kenya Kwanza coalition by some of the mainstream media houses.
Saying biased reporting in his campaigns remained inconsequential, the United Democratic Alliance leader demanded for fairness.
He said the country’s democracy required the media to make the political environment less divisive and less toxic.
“We expect the media to play their rightful role in cultivating a healthy, robust and inclusive discourse,” he said.
“Under the current partisan media environment, we have advised Dr Ruto against participating in the presidential debates”.
The development has sparked mixed reactions with some of Kenyans online saying some of the media stations were biased while others saying DP Ruto had sensed defeat.
“Why would a PhD holder fear facing other contestants in a presidential debate? Ja Loka shared on Twitter adding that something was not adding up.
But Kangu Malika said “media must be non-partisan. As it stands right now, there is no fairness. It will be meaningless to debate…”
