The Twitter account of the newly appointed Inspector General of Police John Martin Okoth Ochola was formerly owned by Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, Sqoop has learnt.
Kenyan PR guru Cynthia Nyamai and her team were reportedly running the Office of IGP account and when Gen Kale Kayihura was sacked by President Museveni on March 4, they changed the IGP account into Gen Kayihura’s personal account then modified a Uhuru Kenyatta bot account they were running, under the handle @_Ukenyatta and gave it to the new IGP Ochola.
IGP Ochola’s Twitter account
A well-known personality on Twitter, who goes by the name Jeff Hardy says after the Kenyan elections, the bot account changed handle [names] to @OmuntuWanyu and started following Ugandan Tweeps.
After the Kenyan elections, the BOT account changed handle[names] to @OmuntuWanyu and started following Ugandan Tweeps [yours inclusive], the new IGP account has a life cycle of a house fly. pic.twitter.com/p2i1nNVtkf
— Jeff HARDY (@andsjeff) March 13, 2018
A Twitter bot is a type of bot software that controls a Twitter account via the Twitter API. The bot software may autonomously perform actions such as tweeting, retweeting, liking, following, unfollowing, or direct messaging other accounts.
“Besides Politics, it was also involved in banter. The account … was used to attack Kenyan opposition politicians whenever they said that the Kenyan elections were rigged,” Jeff whose Twitter handle suggests he has knowledge in ICT and politics, shared on his Twitter timeline.
Police however, said on Tuesday that it’s not the IGP’s official account.
“Please note that none of the accounts below are the official accounts of the the Inspector General of Police. We will share the details of his account in due course,” police said on their Twitter handle.