NASA Flag bearer Raila Odinga to Attend Presidential Debate if President Uhuru Kenyatta Confirms Attendance

National Super Alliance (NASA) flag bearer Raila Odinga is set to take part in the Presidential debate set for July 24, 2017, on condition that President Uhuru Kenyatta also attends.

Through a statement on Monday, NASA said it had held talks with the debate organisers and ironed out issues they had raised earlier.

Salim Lone, Odinga's adviser, revealed that his boss was willing to attend the debate, provided President Kenyatta confirmed his attendance.

“At our final meeting last Thursday, NASA and the Commission reached agreement on the principal points about the debate format, including the issues to be discussed, the moderators, the audience and the venue.

“NASA is still ready to take part in the proposed Debates as soon as Jubilee engages in agreeing on the “ground rules” that President Kenyatta used as the excuse to duck the Debates, which Kenyans have come to expect as an essential platform for leaders to communicate their visions directly to them,” said Mr Lone.

He added that the Debate organisers informed them that they had received no response from President Kenyatta’s Jubilee side to “what would be or not be acceptable to them in terms of the debate format.”

The opposition called on the Head of State to change his stand and agree to participate in the proposed Presidential Debate as they wanted to engage him in a serious discussion about the current state of the nation.

On July 5, both President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga announced they would not take part in the debates as they all accused the organisers of not consulting them.

Meanwhile, State House Director of Digital Communications Dennis Itumbi has reiterated that President Kenyatta will not attend the debate.

In a tweet, on Monday afternoon Itumbi stated: "President Uhuru Kenyatta will not attend the debate on 24th. He will be engaging the people of Kenya directly at their homes and markets."