To debate or not to?

importance of debate became even more highlighted. So unfortunately, I am hardly objective in answering the question of whether to debate or not to debate, to me the answer is an emphatic, YES, let’s debate. But rather than acceding to a simple yes, the real question is why?

Recently, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai challenged all presidential candidates, which obviously includes President Mugabe, to a Presidential Debate. Although there has been no formal response to the challenge, the importance or lack thereof of having such a debate has come to the fore.

Those who follow the American elections will know that it has become part of their culture that the candidates battle it out on televised debates emanating from the primaries right up to the actual Presidential candidates. These debates are noted for their importance in allowing undecided voters to know who will be the best candidate for the office. In the United States it is these undecided voters that are said to “swing” the election in favour of the winning candidate.

In Africa, presidential debates are also gaining huge popularity. In 2008 I was in Ghana and had the privilege of attending the presidential debate in Legon-Accra. The debate was among the presidential candidates who included Professor Atta Mills from the then opposition National Democratic Congress and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who was the then ruling party’s candidate. There were at least four other candidates but the spotlight was on these two main contenders. In Ghana, the presidential debate has now become a culture, refusing to participate is not even an option. The debate is organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs and features two debates that are held in different regions of the country.

In Kenya, the first ever presidential debate was held in February 2013. There were eight candidates and they all battled it out in front of a huge audience. In Kenya’s streets big screen televisions were set up for all and sundry to witness the event so as to formulate a decision. It is reported that the debate generated over 300 000 tweets on social network Twitter that were viewed by over 189 million people worldwide.

In fact, the Kenyan debate left the South Africans wondering why, being the biggest economy in Africa, they have never had a presidential debate. Previously, in October 2012 the Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille challenged President Jacob Zuma to a presidential debate on the economy. The request was declined by the President’s office who said that the President was busy engaging stakeholders in the economy and had no time to attend a debate.

The purpose of a debate is to show that you are aware of the issues and can articulate your position well. The public needs to hear responses directly from the horses’ mouths.
Here in Zimbabwe, the introduction of two new radio stations has allowed the public to hear debates being articulated by various members of political parties on the issues that affect the public. These debates created a huge listenership as could be seen from the contributions made by listeners. These two stations allowed the public to be in direct contact with their political leaders and hear verbatim their side of the story.

Once one hears for him or herself, the job of the spin doctors becomes redundant. It is this feature that makes the live debates so remarkably popular. A Presidential debate is, however, a bit more complex than the ever so popular radio debates by subordinate politicians. A presidential debate articulates policy directly from the head. Any mistake or flip-flopping trickles down to every aspiring politician that is campaigning on that ticket.

It is for this reason why a campaign team would want to control the person or persons who ask the questions, the audience that attends and even the type of questions that will be asked, all to the detriment of the voter who will be hoodwinked by a stage-managed farcical show. We would not want this.

There are also financial benefits to a presidential debate. Advertising revenue that flows from the debate is immense and the television station that holds the rights to this debate will be laughing all the way to the bank. This is something our ZBC has to strongly consider noting its cash-strapped situation.

In Zimbabwe it is high time we embrace the democratic path that has been followed by our sister nations that have walked the same road that we do now. Our candidates must all be ready to face the nation in a no-holds-barred debate. We want to hear them articulate the vision for the nation over the next five years. We want them to explain facing each other why we are in a crisis in the first place. The two main contenders are known for pointing fingers to each other as they campaign, now let them do so in the presence of each other as we watch. This is a make or break election and the decision to participate or not to participate in a public live debate will not be taken lightly by us the electorate. We are watching and waiting!

Tazorora TG Musarurwa is a human rights and legal practitioner who writes in his personal capacity.