The Media Owners Association, the Media Council of Kenya and the Kenya Editors Guild,in consultation with Political Parties have launched the Kenya Presidential Debates 2022, ahead of the August polls.
The three entities agreed on a joint inclusive approach to the process during a press briefing on Wednesday, March 02, 2022, and appointed Clifford Machoka, currently Head of External Affairs & Marketing, Nation Media Groups, as the Head of the Presidential Debates Secretariat.
Machoka will lead a multi-institutional team to engage political party partners and stakeholders in the electoral process, as well as organize the 2022 Presidential and Deputy Presidential Debates.
He will be aided by Leo Mutisya, the Media Council of Kenya’s Head of Research and Media Monitoring, and Rosalia Omungo, the Kenya Editors’ Guild’s Chief Executive Officer.
According to the three media organizations, structures have been put in place to protect Kenyans’ interests and to provide fairness to all parties involved, particularly audiences and candidates.
Since 2013, the Kenyan media has worked to establish Presidential Debates as one of the cornerstone pillars of Kenya’s democracy and electoral process for the benefit of Kenyans.
In 2013, all eight candidates convened for two 2-hour debates to engage each other and Kenyans on the country’s future.
In 2017, the media hosted two presidential debates, as well as one vice presidential debate, during the same time period.
According to the media partners, debates of this nature have become the place for clarity of priorities, public policies, ideas and other development aspects key to the Kenyan people particularly given that Kenya has many diverse political voices.