Dennis Itumbi has come under fierce criticism from a section of Kenyans online for posting an old photo suggesting that a huge crowd had attended Deputy President William Ruto’s rally over the weekend.
“The picture of support speaks louder than the stones and violence,” Itumbi wrote on the microblogging site Twitter.
But a reverse search on the same photo shows that it was first posted on December 8, on numerous Nigerian websites reporting on the country’s population.
Itumbi has since deleted the photo and uploaded new ones.
Itumbi, a former Digital and Diaspora messaging officer at the Office of the President, currently works as a digital strategist in DP Ruto’s Hustler Nation camp.
In the same post, Itumbi also alleged that DP Ruto’s opponents had run out of ideas, hence, settled on violence with an aim of shifting attention.
He was referring to an incident where a crowd engaged police in running battles during Ruto’s rally at the Jacaranda Grounds in Embakasi East.
Computer and Cybercrimes Bill
In 2018, President Uhuru Kenyatta assented to the Computer and Cybercrimes Bill, 2017 which provides a two-year jail term or Sh5 million fine for anyone found guilty of spreading fake news.
“A person who intentionally publishes false, misleading or fictitious data or misinforms with the intent that the data shall be considered or acted upon as authentic, with or without any financial gain, commits an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding five million shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both,” reads clause 12 of the law.
During the launch of the National Computer and Cybercrime Coordination Committee (NCCCC) in November 2021, Interior CS Fred Matiang’i emphasized the repercussions awaiting whoever engaged in “digital banditry.”
Monitor water pumps remotely via your phone
Tracking and monitoring motor vehicles is not new to Kenyans. Competition to install affordable tracking devices is fierce but essential for fleet managers who receive reports online and track vehicles from the comfort of their desk.
