KABUL (PAN) Independent presidential candidate Dr. Ashraf Ghani has hit out at his rivals President Hamid Karzai and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah for avoiding a debate on their programmes for the nation.
"Once again Mr. Karzai and Dr. Abdullah have decided debate is not in the interest of the Afghan people and are avoiding it because they have no coherent plans for the future of Afghanistan," the former finance minister said.
Instead of standing before the people to be judged, Ghani said in a statement on Saturday, they were using tricks and hiding behind flashy marketing campaigns.
The ex-chancellor of Kabul University argued Karzais failure to honor his pledge to participate in the most recently scheduled debate showed he did not communicate honestly with the Afghan people.
"Dr. Abdullahs failure to participate is both deceptive and hypocritical," Ghani said, accusing him of spending large sums of money to buy time for his carefully-crafted promotions on television, but chooses not to appear on television in a real debate.
The July 23 debate on Tolo TV and Azadi Radio was watched and heard by almost half the country, according to the press release. "We appreciate Tolos pioneering efforts and hope they will host another debate."
He urged both candidates to change their minds and participate in the debate. He also called on the Afghan Media Commission and the various networks to ensure all of the next scheduled debates were held.
In the absence of public debate the election process could not be credible, secure and inclusive, observed the presidential hopeful, who viewed debate as the essence of the democratic process.
Between October 2001 and June 2002, Ghani served as special advisor to the UN secretary-general's special representative for Afghanistan, chief advisor to Chairman Karzai and executive director of the Afghan Assistance Coordination Authority.
As finance minister from June 2002 to December 2004, he implemented wide-ranging monetary and fiscal reforms, earning the Asia's Best Finance Minister of the Year Award in 2003.
