Itumbi, the man who tweets his way in and out of storms

Dennis Itumbi.  [File/Standard]

For a man who has made his name in the blogosphere and social media where he has often courted controversy, yesterday’s arrest was not a surprise.

Through his Twitter accounts, Itumbi has fiercely fought for what he believes in - in the process making friends and foes in equal measure.

Early this year, he was forced to eat humble pie and apologise after posting pictures of Deputy President William Ruto’s wife, Rachael, distributing relief food in Turkana. It turned out that the pictures were from a previous event a few years earlier.

Itumbi admitted as much.

“I apologise for images I shared here earlier. Mama Rachel Ruto was not in Turkana. I relied on unverified images. This was my mistake and I am sorry,” he told his 778,000 Twitter followers.

“I have since deleted them. May the record reflect the true position and my apology too,” he posted.

The pictures had been taken in 2014 and many of Itumbi's followers felt he was trying to portray Mrs Ruto as responding to the hunger that was sweeping through Turkana villagers in March this year.

Itumbi, a career blogger, made a name for himself at the height of the International Criminal Court (ICC) cases against Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto who rode to power in 2013.

On March 22, 2012, he was arrested in Embu and detained at Muthaiga Police Station on claims he hacked into ICC’s website. The case was later dropped for lack of evidence.

Late last year, Itumbi dominated social media platforms when he showed up in court to show solidarity with Citizen TV journalist Jackie Maribe who is facing murder charges. He has not shied away from poking holes in the charges leveled against the TV presenter.

Terrorist attack

On November 26, 2014, the Presidential Strategic Communication Unit (PSCU)-Digital under Itumbi committed a faux pas when they posted pictures of Uhuru returning from a tour of Abu Dhabi as the country mourned victims of a terrorist attack in Mandera.

“I have been out of the country for a few days as you have seen from the selfies in newspapers,” Itumbi posted a tweet quoting the President.

It was deleted after a backlash online and replaced with: “As you are aware, I have been away for a few days, as you have seen in the newspapers.”

When terrorists again attacked security personnel in Yumbis, Garissa County in May 2015, a condolence message purportedly posted on behalf of the President was posted on the PSCU Twitter handle.

“I mourn and pray with the family and friends of the police officers who lost their lives in Yumbis. They died protecting us. I salute them,” it read.

By then, Interior Cabinet Secretary Major-General (Rtd) Joseph Nkaissery was insisting that no lives were lost.

Itumbi took responsibility for the tweet, which was later deleted.

In 2017, PSCU apologised to lawyer Donald Kipkorir after its account was used to post a derogatory tweet at him. 

“We apologise for the tweet that appeared on our timeline. We agree it was inappropriate. It has been deleted,” PSCU later said.

In 2018, most of the Twitter accounts managed by PSCU were deleted. Chief of Staff and Head of the Presidential Delivery Unit Nzioka Waita then announced four official State House Twitter handles.

“Please note that all official communication originating from the PSCU shall be strictly communicated through the aforementioned channels. Operational correspondence by PSCU staff to media outlets will be done through officially assigned “president.go.ke” email addresses,” Nzioka said.

With this communication, Itumbi’s days of almost single-handedly running State House’s social media platforms ground to a halt.