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Dennis Itumbi: Govt has no fake Twitter accounts


The government has denied running fake accounts to push propaganda on social media platforms.

Mr Dennis Itumbi, the Director of Digital Communication at State House, said the government has 254 departments that it can set accounts for and use, hence no need setting up pseudo accounts.

“We are in the process of auditing and creating government social media accounts for all the departments but at the moment I have no idea what pseudo accounts you are talking about,” said Itumbi.

FAKE NAMES

Some bloggers have exposed Twitter accounts created with fake names and profile pictures, which simultaneously tweet the same message in defence of the government.

When asked whether he was aware that the said accounts were active during the campaign period and engaged candidates and even government officials after elections, Mr Itumbi said fake accounts were common on social media but vehemently delinked the government from them.

The fake accounts in question came up during the Press Pass program on NTV that held a discussion on the government’s communication unit’s clash with the opposition.

A random check by Nairobi News on some of the accounts in the screen shot revealed an error in trying to view the user profile.

One of the accounts (@KeruboG) created in January 2012 had no user’s “bio”.

PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRANT

The mentions to the said accounts were, however, visible with discussions dated as far back as 2012 engaging the then presidential aspirant @MarthaKarua who tweeted to one of the said pseudo accounts: “@Alingendo Absolutely false I do not own any land in south Ngariama or anywhere in Kirinyaga it is irresponsible to publish falsehood.”

The user went on to engage TNA chairman Johnson Sakaja who replied, “@Alingendo @UKenyatta @MachelWaikenda I can spot a pseudo account from a mile. Endelea tu but get more creative ways to conceal yourselves.”

Another account that was also part of the Press Pass discussion had at some point engaged Mr Itumbi on the acquisition of Accordion template, to which he responded, “@TMgambi we called for designs and we got good some, I think we will publish those belonging to some on this TL @mungei @gitaumartin.”