The United Democratic Alliance has encouraged DP William Ruto to withdraw from the presidential debate scheduled for July.
UDA Communications Director Hussein Mohammed said in a statement on Thursday that this was due to media bias.
“We have noted with much concern the repeated and continued bias and propaganda in a section of Kenya’s mainstream media in abuse of statutory,” he said.
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“Under the current partisan media environment, we have advised our candidate against participating in the presidential debate.”
According to Mohammed, political news is a matter of public interest, hence coverage by journalists, media practitioners, or media enterprises must be fair, truthful, and cover all sides of the issue.
“This has been deliberately contravened, ignored and bravely abused by the sections of the media,” he said.
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Media Owners Association, Media Council of Kenya and Kenya Editors Guild jointly announced that the Presidential and Deputy Presidential Debates will take place before the elections without giving the specific dates.
“It is scheduled to take place in July in consultation with Political parties ahead of August 9, 2022. Also, a team of senior editors from across media houses has been put in place to secure the interest of Kenyans and to deliver fairness to all concerned,” they said in a joint statement.
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