Presidential teams rethink debate strategies

By JUMA KWAYERA

Tonight’s verbal showdown between seven contenders for the presidency is expected to see changes in style and message from most of them. This follows mixed reviews about their performance on February 11 in the first debate to include all candidates.

It has emerged some of the leaders did little to prepare for the first televised event. Although it was agreed upon last year, interviews with their strategists and advisors show some party flag-bearers misjudged its importance. They came prepared with little more than scripted answers for hot-button issues and some general advice about debating traps not to fall into.

The result was a mixed performance in which many of the frontrunners failed to excite.

Martha Karua and her team put most thought into her delivery. Ms Wanjiru Mbugua, who heads her communications team, says the Narc-Kenya leader practiced with a panel of advisors on the Friday and Saturday before at the party headquarters in Kilimani, Nairobi. She attended a short rehearsal at Brookhouse on the Sunday then took a break.

During the event, Karua had a team in the backroom tracking public reactions on social media that briefed her during the breaks on how she and her rivals were coming across.

“We also did a post-mortem of the debate the following day,” says Ms Mbugua. “We felt she should have had more time.”

Going into the next debate Karua plans to be more forceful in making her points and rebutting her rivals’ arguments.

Safina’s Paul Muite and ARK’s Abduba Dida went on air unrehearsed after a day spent in court seeking orders to include them in the debate. Muite’s personal assistant, Mr David Wanjohi, says the two barely made it in time.

“(Muite) arrived a minute before the debate got underway,” he says. “Dida had to drive on the wrong side of Lang’ata Road to get there. We even did not know the rules of engagement. Their contributions were unrehearsed.”

Tonight, however, Muite plans to be be more polished, thanks to a prep team chaired by Mars Group chief executive, Mr Mwalimu Mati.

It is unclear whether Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi got any help preparing for the debate before his rehearsals on the same day. The Standard has established he called in Justice minister Eugene Wamalwa, who was campaigning in Western, at the last minute.

His private secretary, Mr Kibisu Kabatesi, however, says a team that he was part of prepared the outgoing Sabatia MP.

Whatever the case, Mudavadi’s performance did not light up viewers. For some reason, he chose not to jump into the thick of things: At some point, as other discussants engaged, he remained quiet for some 20 and 30 minutes. Observers also noted lapses such as his failure to shake hands with his rivals or his incomplete introduction in which he forgot to talk about his academic credentials and experience in government.

When asked about his preparations for the last debate and the coming one, Prof James ole Kiyiapi described himself as “always ready”.

“I began my preparations a long time ago and I have team of advisors that research for me,” he says. “In addition, through my 20 years experience in public office, I acquired a lot of information.” He acquitted himself as a knowledgeable debater, backing up his arguments with facts and figures, but accused the moderators of focusing on Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta.

Prof Amukowa Anangwe says the CORD leader was advised not to go into the debate guns blazing to avoid coming off as too combative.

“I was involved in the initial stages,” says Prof Anangwe, a political science lecturer and one of the Prime Minister’s advisors. “We agreed that the PM would not let loose. However, the specifics were left to Salim Lone and George Outa (with help from Ngunjiri Wambugu and Oduor Ongw’en).”

When contacted, Lone acknowledged that Raila’s “suppressed” performance was deliberate but would not go into details as to why this was so.The PM, who is used to gesticulating and speaking at length, looked subdued. Muite, however, managed to get a reaction when he said Raila and President Kibaki bore greater responsibility for the 2008 post-election violence than those facing trial at The Hague. “That is the most irresponsible statement I have heard,” Raila thundered. The PM was also drawn into bickering with Karua over his answer on the reason Parliament failed to create a local tribunal.

Uhuru Kenyatta, who has said he will skip tonight's second round due to alleged moderator bias, had assembled a team that meets regularly at an exclusive office he runs in Lavington, independent of the Jubilee alliance secretariat. Like Raila, Uhuru was warned to keep off adversarial exchanges, especially with the prime minister. In the end, he looked calm and collected — even if over-rehearsed. His spokesman, Munyori Buku would neither confirm nor deny that the Jubilee flag-bearer has hired experts to manage his image. His absence from tonight's meet will leave him open to attack without defence.

One thing the candidates agree about is that they would have done better with more time to give their answers. “We need time to debate issues, not the question and answer interview we were subjected to,” ole Kiyiapi says.