On 7^th July 2022, Mkenya Daima Initiative signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Debates Media Limited towards hosting the series of planned Election Debates ahead of polling day on August 9, 2022. In addition to the traditional Presidential and Deputy presidential debates, which have been held in Kenya’s election cycles since 2013, this year’s debate program includes gubernatorial debate for Nairobi County.

In the agreement, Mkenya Daima will give technical input and chip into the sponsorship kitty for three debates which will all be held in July. The Nairobi Gubernatorial Debate took place on Monday, 11^th July while the Deputy Presidential Debate shall be held on Tuesday, 19^th July and the Presidential Debate will take place on Tuesday, 26^th July. All the debates will be held at the Catholic University for Eastern Africa (CUEA) main campus from 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm.

Present at the event were Mkenya Daima Steering Committee members led by the Chair, Dr Vimal Shah, Carole Kariuki, KEPSA CEO, Martha Cheruto, Deputy CEO KEPSA Foundation, Flora Mutahi, KEPSA Chair, Daniel Juma, Mercy Masila-Achola, Suba Churchill and Duncan Mochama. Also present were members of the Editor’s Guild and DebatesKE who included Stephen Gitagama, Chair Media Owners Association, Rosalia Omungo, CEO Kenya Editors’ Guild, Churchill Otieno, CEO DebatesKE, Benedict Omollo, and Clifford Makokha among others.

Speaking during the signing ceremony, Carole Kariuki said the partnership fulfilled two objectives of the Mkenya Daima 2022 which is to influence the quality of leadership and accountability conversation around the elections to enable Kenyans to make informed decisions in choosing good credible leaders while also informing the political party manifestos with a view of making them more people-centred and economy led.

“This year we have we have witnessed a calm in the political temperatures, and we are not seeing any negative impact on the economy as much as we saw in 2013 and 2107. So, we are happy to partner with the media and to help in packaging research for the debates as well as mobilizing Kenyans to watch and participate positively in the debates to move Kenya forward”, she said.

Echoing her sentiments Flora Mutahi, added that politics was too important to be left only to the politicians saying that Kenyans had much more reason to protect gains made in the economy over the last year, which has since been battered by the covid 19 pandemic, a global recession, a persistent as well as supply chain challenges resulting from the Russian Ukraine war.

“We want to call on all Kenyans to participate and stay engaged as they listen to all aspirants and make their own choices on who captures their aspirations and those of the country because we must protect the economy and move further towards recovery”, she said.

Dr Vimal Shah urged Kenyans to pay attention to the details and take responsibility for the decision at the ballot by not shying away from asking the politicians tough questions by taking action to ‘Kagua Kabla ya Kuchagua’ as well as living up to the rallying call ‘Nitatenda Wajibu Wangu’.

Stephen Gitagama said the debates were an important part of the Kenyan democratic process as they offer the voting public the opportunity to interrogate their prospective leaders who in turn will have the opportunity to expound on their leadership vision and thoughts for Kenya, away from the rigours of political campaigns.

“We encourage all Kenyans wherever they are to participate in this important process of democratic engagement. We have the capacity to handle all four presidential candidates in one debate, but we know that the quality of debate is always better with fewer candidates”, He said.

Churchill Otieno said that the Media of Kenya had come together as one to present a much better and improved platform for candidates to address the concerns of Kenyans even as they position their agenda for the election.

To participate in the debate viewers have been asked to send in their questions via.

• WhatsApp no. 0796560560,
• SMS Short Code 22843
• Email: info@debates.co.ke