Deputy President William Ruto avoided the question of whether he will attend the highly anticipated presidential debate slated for Tuesday, July 26. 

Speaking to Muoroto FM on Monday, July 18, at his Karen residence, Ruto claimed that the media was giving Azimio camp more coverage compared to his Kenya Kwanza.

He noted such media houses ought to declare their political leaning instead of purporting to offer non-partisan coverage.

“I’ve already spoken to various media institutions and they requested me to attend the debate. I prompted them to tell me why our opponents get 65 percent coverage whereas we get a mere 35 percent. Is it hard for the media to be fair? If a media house is inclined towards a particular candidate, they ought to declare so publicly,” he stated. 

The DP added that he would discuss with members of the Kenya Kwanza coalition to agree on the way forward. 

“That’s where we stand. In the next few days, we will decide on the way forward. In my opinion, the debate is a great platform for Kenyans to know more about those seeking the presidency but at the moment it has been turned into a biased platform.”

“However, notwithstanding, since we respect the media and the public, we’re looking forward to making a decision and hopefully, it will be to attend the debate,” he stated. 

Recently, Ruto’s campaign secretariat had castigated the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) for alleged bias in their report which detailed that Azimio la Umoja’s Raila Odinga was getting less coverage. 

“During the period, the DP’s coalition received 14 percent mention in print media compared to Raila’s 12 per cent and 61 per cent coverage in radio against Raila’s 58 per cent,” stated MCK.

“While Ruto leads in both print and radio coverage, Raila retains an edge over the DP on television coverage at 29 percent against DP Ruto’s 26 per cent,” the report added.

The secretariat’s Director of Communications, Hussein Mohamed, faulted the MCK for not providing data to validate it’s claims.

“Reports have shown the coverage the other team is enjoying. It is interesting, funny and unbelievable that the MCK did not see a problem with that. “

“Without any report or statistics, they said that the numbers have changed and with an obsession with polls, the MCK went ahead and did a poll on which campaigns journalists would like to cover. Really? Is that what you are supposed to do?” Hussein wondered.

All eyes will also be on whether Kenya Kwanza’s running mate, Rigathi Gachagua, will attend the deputy presidential debate which is slated for Tuesday, July 18.