The 2022 presidential debates will take place on July 26 and will feature a gubernatorial debate for Nairobi County, the steering secretariat has announced.
The presidential debate will be preceded by the Deputy Presidential debate on July 19 and the Nairobi Gubernatorial debate at the Catholic University for Eastern Africa on July 11 from 5pm to 10pm.
“The gubernatorial debate is in recognition of the central place held by devolution in our governance and the growing need to ensure greater accountability at the county level,” the secretariat said in a statement.
The statement further announced that the gubernatorial debate will proceed in two tiers.
“The first tier will feature gubernatorial candidates whose popularity ratings, based on three recent opinion polls, stand below 5 percent, while the second tier will involve candidates who have polled above 5 percent in the same opinion surveys. The first debate will run from 6pm and end at 7:30pm while the second debate will go on air at 8pm and end at 9:30pm.”
KBC’s Serfine Achieng’ and K24’s Ayub Abdikadir will moderate the first tier debate and KTN’s Zubeida Koome and NTV’s Mark Maasai moderate the second tier debate.
Citizen TV’s Waihiga Mwaura will mediate the two debate’s panel discussions.
Rules set out for the debates are that, the moderators shall select the questions to be asked to the candidates.
They are also required not to discuss the questions with the candidates or their campaign teams and are not allowed to meet them before the debates kick off.
The secretariat has promised to deliver an impartial, fair and objective debate.
