THE presidential debate of Monday night was fraught with goofs from the eight candidates seeking to be the country's top diplomat.
Safina's Paul Muite and UDF's Musalia Mudavadi goofed on entry. They are the only ones who did not greet their rivals on stepping on stage despite passing so close to them.
KNC's Peter Kenneth surprised all by revealing on the public platform that his party has been working with a German foundation to build its ideological base.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga too. The Cord candidate categorically denied he has ever changed parties: “I have not changed parties. LDP just changed name into ODM. Its the same party. It did not change as such. ODM has remained up to now.”
TNA's Uhuru Kenyatta openly told the debate he found it necessary to form a political party after persistent disagreements in Kanu. His choice of words “my own” was subject of online discussion.
RBK's James ole Kiyiapi contradicted himself by saying if he were president, he would attend to insecurity incidents immediately and stay on until they are sorted out. On the same breath, he complained about people rushing to bomb blast sites and creating fresh insecurity concerns.
The Migingo issue caught all candidates flat-footed. Muite probably goofed on it with his idea of dispatching the Kenya Navy there because “fortunately Uganda does not have a navy”.
For Uhuru, the Migigo problem is occasioned by lack of clear maps registered with the UN, but Migigo is in Kenya. Raila concurred that although “joint survey has not been completed” Migigo is in Kenya. Mudavadi too. None of them said how they knew it was in Kenya.
But Raila goofed big time on it by saying “its unconceivable that two countries can go to war over a piece of rock.” In other words, Migigo is a simply a rock not worth it. ARK's Abduba Dida was honest enough to say he's been reading in the papers that there is a problem in Migingo.
Other goofs revolved around candidates missing the point or mis-appreciating issues. Asked to provide a “a clear plan” on how he plans to attend ICC trial and run the country at the same time, Uhuru skirted around the issue until moderator Linus Kaikai reigned him back.
One can argue he goofed by reducing the ICC issue to a “personal challenge”. Once he is elected, the line between personal and official will become very blurred. Kenneth also tried the same trick insisting that for him, Uhuru is innocent until proven guilty.
“'I'd like to defeat my brother in a proper electoral process rather than have him eliminated so that we can square the ball out squarely,” he said.
Moderators had their own fair share of goofs. A questioner from Tana Delta asked a specific question on how the candidates planned to sort out the Tana killings. Julie Gichuru, however, expanded the question to include both “domestic and external forces threats” allowing room for vague answers.
Because of lack of clarity, candidates could afford to hide in vague pledges and slogans. They simply said they will invest in security, undertake police reforms and equip the forces. It was not until Mudavadi insisted on answering the specific issues raised by the questioner that the debate gained focus.
Before that, the answers, including for Narc Kenya's Martha Karua were: “It is not acceptable.” “I will be hard on it.” “I will invest in security.” “The events in Tana River should not happen in a modern country."
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