Itumbi shamed for ‘stealing’ comedian’s content to boost government’s image
On July 16, 2023, Kenyan comedy content creator Mkenya Isaak 7Million, born Isaac Sichei, published his video talking of how the endless rat race of working and living to make ends meet from paycheck to paycheck was about to ease as the second half of the year rolled in.
In Isaak’s opinion, if someone was able to successfully plant between May and July, then from August, cereals were ready for harvesting, drying and consumption; and people would party for months after toiling and labouring in the first half of the year.
“By November, parties have began everywhere. Mandazis everywhere, pre-weddings to go and ask for a girl’s hand, weddings, child naming and house warming parties. Parties have began and in December, this is when everyone is trying to outdo each other in throwing large parties. The business in December is eating. From there is where problems will begin but for now to December, there is no problem,” the comedian says in the clip.
“It is harvest time and people will have a lot of money and everyone will eat chapati in their house. So don’t have any worries. If you’ve come from January to July and you are watching me, you are a legend. A true Kenyan. These coming months, tell your body sorry for suffering so much for working too hard on the soil. Don’t say you don’t have any money now,” he goes on.
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Fast forward to two days ago, Kenya Kwanza government blogger Dennis Itumbi lifted Isaak’s video and re-posted it with a different message.
“The true demonstration of the power of the fertilizer subsidy. A Trans-Nzoia farmer speaks of the bumper harvest ahead. Some are demonstrating violence, the true demos are happening in farms. #SystemYaFacts,” said Itumbi.
However, this did not sit well with Isaak 7Million who called out Itumbi for using his video without his permission and posting a different message from what its original intention of publishing was.
In several videos, Isaak called out Itumbi for also refusing to answer his phone calls to address the matter and how he was misrepresenting facts to make the government look good in matters that it did not involve itself in. Isaak also expressed disappointment in Itumbi, a person who commands millions of followers for stealing content from his Facebook page to misrepresent facts on his personal accounts instead of promoting talent.
“You use my video that I recorded for a different intention, purpose and objective for entertainment… you use it now on your social media handles for a different purpose. You did not even consult me. I have no problem with you uploading the video but the caption you gave it. You even added ‘goodbye hunger’ on the video and I know you are capable of doing it. I am disappointed in you Dennis Itumbi,” the comedian said.
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“I struggle to come up with content for my followers but now you are using my content to show success or to highlight government programs. To show how the government is succeeding on the ground with these programs. It’s not bad but have you consulted me? People are calling me and going to my inbox saying I am being paid by the government these days to highlight its agendas on the ground. No one is paying me to do that!” he lamented.
Isaak also claimed Itumbi had been paid to promote the government while leaving him empty handed in Kitale. This is not the first time that the Kenya Kwanza regime have been caught flatfooted copy pasting and lifting people’s content to make the President and his government to look good.
In June 2023, President William Ruto was caught up in content creation copy-pasting drama when the original creator of the content demanded recognition for his work. On that particular occasion, President Ruto’s social media accounts published a piece on ‘The Second Vulture’ which told the story of humans being inhumane in the face of their fellow humans being in dire need – based on the story of the vulture waiting on a hunger stricken child to die before it could pounce on the child.
Later on, when the original content creator, Kapyoseiin Moibenshire, demanded credit for his work, President Ruto’s team deleted the post that had gone viral only to republish it later with quotation marks as s if to try and make their copy different from Moibenshire’s.
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