Azimio la Umoja presidential running mate, Martha Karua, has taken a jibe at the Kenya Editors' Guild for correcting her presentation of facts and data.
Karua faulted the Editors for their analysis that indicated she misrepresented figures when putting across the point that the problem facing Kenyans was not revenue but expenditure.
"Fact checkers (Kenya Editors' Guild) ought to be ready to dig deeper and not quick to dismiss without adequate research. It is a fact that our problem is not revenue but expenditure and that is what I illustrated," Karua posted on her Twitter handle.
According to the Editors, Karua was inaccurate with her figures touching on economic expenditure, a subject that has drawn attention among Kenyans.
During the debate, Karua is quoted saying that Operation plus Maintenance (OM) costs amounted to Ksh600 billion. But according to a fact check by the Editors, Karua over quoted the figures by close to Ksh300 billion.
Karua is also heard saying that expenditure on salary in the country for public servants - both at the national and county levels - amounted to Ksh550 billion. Editors' fact check stated otherwise, quoting the expenditure at Ksh665 billion, an underquote by Ksh115 billion from Karua.
Fact check by Editors was supported by the office of the Controller of Budget (CoB) which states that Operations and Maintenance stood at Ksh324.6 billion and expenditure on salaries at Ksh665 billion, based on the 2021/22 fiscal year budget.
Operations and Maintenance basically refers to recurrent expenditure that includes travel, printing and advertisements, legal fees, hospitality maintenance expenses for motor vehicles, rentals and rates touching on government employees who enjoy such benefits.
During the debate held on Tuesday, July 19, that pitted Karua against Kenya Kwanza's Rigathi Gachagua, the two locked horns on the running of the country and on the policies each of the two leading coalitions - Azimio and Kenya Kwanza - will put in place to address the high cost of living and wastage of public resources.
The Kenya Editors' Guild is among the organisers of the debates and is is tasked with fact checking information from debaters to counter misinformation.
During the debate, Gachagua hit out at Karua, claiming she was unfit for office after she told the moderators she buys bread for Ksh80.
Speaking in Kamacharia, Murang'a county, on Wednesday, July 20, Gachagua stated that Karua was out of touch with the reality and did not understand what Kenyans were going through.
"You heard Martha say the bread she buys is Ksh80. I wondered what kind of bread that was. They want us to elect someone without an idea of what is going on," Gachagua remarked.
Reducing the cost of living in Kenya has taken the interest of politicians in their campaigns with just 18 days to the poll. This has seen President Uhuru Kenyatta, who threw his support behind Azimio's flag bearer Raila Odinga, order the reduction of price of Unga by more than a half on July 20.
Odinga's main competitor, William Ruto, on the other hand, rubbished the initiative, terming it a ploy to hoodwink voters into Azimio's corner.
