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Uhuru: Insults drove me out of Twitter – VIDEO

By Hilary Kimuyu November 25th, 2020 2 min read

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday disclosed the reason why he left  micro-blogging siter Twitter, after he deactivated his social media accounts back in March 2019.

Mr Kenyatta disclosed his reasons when he led Kenyans in the launch of collection of signatures in support of the looming Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) referendum at KICC in Nairobi.

According to the head of state, Twitter had nothing constructive to offer him and instead all he ever got was daily insults prompting him to opt out of the popular social media platform.

“Mimi nilitoka Twitter kwa sababu huko ni matusi tu…afadhali nipige story na mama, nilale, niamke nifanye kazi,” he said amid laughter from those attending the BBI event.

Mr Kenyatta added that Twitter was only a waste of time and nothing tangible could come out of it, based on his experience when he was the most followed African leader of Twitter.

“Unakaa hapo unasoma, hulali. Unapiga simu unauliza vile umetukanwa,” he lamented.

The president went offline in 2019 despite being the most followed African leader on Twitter, with his handle, @UKenyatta, which was verified, having 3.62 million followers.

He also deactivated his Facebook account, at the time of the suspension he did not give explanation as to why the accounts were offline.

Amid growing speculation, State House chief of staff Nzioka Waita sent a tweet saying that the President’s accounts had been deactivated.

“On account of unauthorised access to the official social media handles of 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 said then.

It was not the first time that social media accounts associated with the president and State House were deactivated.

In July 2018, two Twitter accounts, @PresidentKE and @PSCU_Digital, were pulled down over hacking allegations.

“In this regard and with immediate effect the only official digital media channels that will convey information for and on behalf of the President, Her Excellency the First Lady and State House are as detailed below: Twitter: @StateHouseKenya, @UKenyatta, @FirstLadyKenya @KanzeDena; Facebook: State House Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, @Office of the First Lady Kenya,” Mr Waita said at the time.