MWANGI: Presidential Debate: When pride makes all trees slippery

It was a presidential debate that elevated the profile of one candidate and diminished that of the other. Perhaps more than anything else, it helped to swing undecided voters to one side and made them detest the other. It portrayed Raila Odinga as a humble, reachable leader and showed President Uhuru Kenyatta as arrogant and out-of-touch with the people.

While both the major candidates – there are six others seeking election to the highest office in the land on fringe parties and as independent candidates – had initially indicated that they would ignore the debate, Odinga apparently had a change of mind and turned up. It was however a no-show for Kenyatta, despite the organisers bending over backwards and delaying the start of the debate by more than 30 minutes.

Eventually, therefore, what was slated to be a hot presidential debate became an opportunity for the main opposition outfit, the National Super Alliance (NASA), to articulate its agenda and vision before an attentive national audience of millions of people. And Odinga did not disappoint, speaking out on issues that are close to the hearts of many in the audience. From high rental charges to the problems encountered by single mothers, he milked the opportunity for what it was worth.

Naturally, even diehard supporters of President Kenyatta’s Jubilee party were left disappointed. Here was an opportunity to address the nation that was wasted in an unnecessary show of contempt for the media. In the process, the absence of their candidate was also interpreted as contempt for the electorate.

With that decision to skip the debate, therefore, the president may have just signed his political obituary. It signifies a slide to the bottom that started with his inability to deal with corrupt elements in his regime. His very disposition precipitated a crisis, with unguarded comments and frequent abuses against opposition leaders showing a detestable side of him.

Some have said that it wouldn’t have been right for the president to bring himself down to debate other lower mortals seeking to occupy his office. But what they forget is that the system of presidential debates – just like the current presidential political system – is borrowed from the West.

The United States, which many see (perhaps wrongly) as the ultimate model of democracy, has long had presidential debates. In East Africa, President Yoweri Museveni attended a presidential debate in the run-up to last year’s elections. What is so special, then, with the Kenyan president?

The stakes are particularly high in a close contest. With some pollsters showing the president trailing Odinga, it was foolhardy for the head of state to miss out on a great opportunity to sell his vision to voters in a forum with a nationwide audience.

But it is also possible that some sycophants around him have been misleading the Kenyan president about his popularity, or the lack of it. That may have made him decide that the debate wasn’t really worth it.

Granted, there are those voters who will not change their voting preferences because of the performance of a candidate at a debate. In this regard, the Mt Kenya region and huge chunks of the Rift Valley are expected to deliver huge numbers of votes to Jubilee. In the same manner, the former Nyanza province and Ukambani areas are locked to NASA. There are however numerous battleground areas; thanks to Jubilee arrogance, the opposition coalition will now reap handsomely in these areas.

Are we seeing the end of the Jubilee government? Not quite, unless government interference can be checked and electoral officials monitored sufficiently to deliver a free, fair and credible presidential election. That remains to be seen, and could be the cause of mayhem in the immediate aftermath of the election.

The fact is, all the same, that the president made a major blunder; unlike the many mistakes he has made in the recent past, this one will cost him dearly. Like the proverbial monkey who discovered that all trees had become slippery on the day he was destined to die, Kenyatta may learn his lesson a little too late.