All social media accounts for Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta have been deactivated after someone gained “unauthorised access”, his chief of staff has tweeted.
Nzioka Waita gave no details how it happened but added that the platforms will be restored after “remedial action”.
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.
— Nzioka Waita (@NziokaWaita) March 22, 2019
Mr Kenyatta’s Twitter and Facebook account have millions of followers.
Privately-owned newspaper The Star reports that a tweet deemed politically sensitive, that was posted this morning, was the reason behind the deactivation of the accounts.
The Star shared a screengrab of the tweet:
The paper reports that the mention of “my closest political ally” in the tweet could be referring to Mr Kenyatta’s deputy, William Ruto.
Mr Ruto’s supporters have been critical of Mr Kenyatta’s latest war against corruption that has resulted in the arrest and questioning of top government officials, saying that it was a witch-hunt against his deputy.
They say that people seen as close to Mr Ruto were being targeted.
The relationship between the two leaders, who ran on a joint ticket in the 2013 and 2017 elections, is said to have been strained recently, especially after Mr Kenyatta called a truce with opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Mr Odinga and Mr Kenyatta – who were engaged in a bitter contest in the 2017 election – agreed to work together in 2018 for the sake of “peace in the country”.
Their close relationship and Mr Odinga’s increased profile since the truce are being seen by some as a political manoeuvre to scuttle Mr Ruto’s plan to succeed Mr Kenyatta as president.
