Historic, and Long, Presidential Debate in Kenya

In nearly 50 years of independence, Kenya has never held a presidential debate. Until yesterday. Lucky for all of us living halfway around the world, the video coverage was streamed online.

All eight contenders participated. You can find a profile for each here. The moderators pulled few punches, displaying a forceful, sometimes combative posture on a number of important issues. They kicked things off with a provocative series of questions about tribalism, described as a “cancer” that afflicts all aspects of governance and politics in Kenya (minute 16:15). Moving right along to possibly the biggest controversy of the entire campaign, the next topic took a direct shot at Uhuru Kenyatta and the ongoing case at the ICC for his alleged role (with 3 others) in the 2007-2008 post-election violence (minute 47:40). In a line that was surely canned, but memorable nonetheless, Raila Odinga — who has maintained a slim lead over Kenyatta in recent polls — quipped that “I know that it will pose serious challenges to run the government by Skype from The Hague” (57:27).

If nothing else, the debate certainly tested the endurance of each candidate, coming in at just over three hours long. For those interested, you can view it in its entirety below.