REVEALED: Two top rated Kenyan journalists who will moderate Raila, Ruto debate

The names of two journalist who will moderate the much-awaited presidential debate have been revealed. Yvonne Okwara of Citizen TV and Eric Latiff of KTN News will host the presidential debate between Deputy President William Ruto and Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition flag bearer Raila Odinga, organisers have announced.

Dr Ruto and Mr Odinga will take on each other in the second tier debate, having polled over five per cent in three recent opinion polls.

Explaining that NTV’S Joe Ageyo will moderate the panel discussions for both debates, the debates secretariat said the moderators were arrived at following a rigorous criterion that abides to the rule of impartiality, fairness and objectivity in addition to a strong understanding of the Kenyan political landscape and the major issues of this election.

The two debates will be a culmination of a series of such engagements that included Tuesday’s deputy presidential debates that saw running mates lay out to Kenyans their vision and why they should be elected.

“We reiterate that under the Presidential Debates Guidelines, the moderators will select the questions to be asked and shall not share the same with the candidates. They will not meet with any of the campaign teams or the candidates,” the secretariat said in a statement.

Yvonne is currently a Senior News Anchor and Editor in charge of Research and Planning at East Africa’s biggest TV channel, Citizen TV. She is a media consultant for Kenya’s National Defence College, and sits on the ENACTUS Business Advisory Council. She is a board member at CBM Kenya, a development organisation that works to improve the lives of persons with disability, and chairs the Advisory Board of Africa Uncensored, an independent media house set up by Kenya’s finest investigative journalists. Yvonne is a Bloomberg Africa Leadership Initiative Media Fellow.

Eric hosts The Situation Room on Spice FM – the only uninterrupted morning talk show on Kenyan radio. “It is the home of hard-hitting political commentary and penetrating insights about the state of the nation. A place for hard truths, debates and elevated conversations. Witty, political, engaging, deep and controversial,” he says on his Linkedin profile.