This archive report was first published on 19 July 2019.
On June 16, 2019, President Uhuru Kenyatta addressed worshippers at the Annual General Conference of the Akurinu Churches Assembly at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani. However, what caught the world's attention was his decision to deactivate all his social media handles, including Facebook and Twitter, almost three months later.
Speaking in Kasarani on Sunday afternoon during the Akorino Annual Gathering, Uhuru told off politicians from his backyard for sponsoring hate against him and his agenda of bringing Kenyans together. He stated that this was one of the reasons he quit Facebook.
“These people think am silent and I fear them. I only said I wont do politics because Iam not interested in power, but not that I fear them. I have decided to quit Facebook.They think they are popular because they make headlines but I will deal with them,” Uhuru said amid applause from the crowd.
Earlier in March, the Chief of Staff in the Office of The President, Nzioka Waita, cited ‘unauthorized access’ as the reason for the temporary suspension of the President's official social media handles. He stated that remedial measures were being undertaken to address the issue.
“On account of unauthorized access to the official social media handles of H.E the President of the Republic of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta. All official social media handles for the President have been temporarily suspended to allow for the necessary remedial measures to be undertaken,” he stated.
The incident sparked off speculation that one of Africa’s Twitter presidents had been suspended by the microblog. However, Mr Kenyatta had not violated any of the rules and Twitter was not giving that explanation for the missing account.
