Dennis Itumbi is the top Kenyan digital strategist. Currently holds the powerful position of Head of Presidential Special Projects and Creative Economy Coordination. He was also sworn in as a Deputy Minister in March 2023, before the courts declared the 51 positions unconstitutional. Itumbi is credited with running digital campaigns that got both President Uhuru and Deputy President William Ruto cases in the Hague,ICC,dropped. He later headed the communications campaign that got President Kenyatta electedcin 2013.in 2022, he started a sensational digotal outfit under the banner Hustler Nation Intelligence Bureau ( HNIB) and got President Ruto 3lected. Ahead of that victory he fell our with President Uhuru and got abducted by rogue policemen under Fred Matiamgi the then Interior Cabinet Secretary. Impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, accused Itumbi of drawing Memes depicting him as sidelined during the King's visit to Kenya and held him by the collar at the Eldoret State Lodge. Itumbi remains a powerful and controversial figure in Kenya. He is also an election consultant, known for his role in the campaign of President

Uhuru Kenyatta Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta ( born 26 October 1961) is a Kenyan politician who served as the fourth president of Kenya from 2013 to 2022. The son of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's first president, he previously served as Prime Minister of Kenya, Deputy Pri ...

and his deputy

William Ruto William Kipchirchir Samoei Arap Ruto (born 21 January 1967) is a Kenyan politician who is the fifth and current president of Kenya since 13 September 2022. Prior to becoming president, he served as the first elected Deputy President of Kenya, ...

in the

2013 Kenyan general election General elections were held in Kenya on 4 March 2013. Voters elected the President of Kenya, President, members of the National Assembly (Kenya), National Assembly and newly formed Senate of Kenya, Senate. Also elected include Governor, governor ...

and

2017 Kenyan general election General elections were held in Kenya on 8 August 2017 to elect the President, members of the National Assembly and Senate. They coincided with the 2017 Kenyan local elections which elected Governors and representatives in the devolved governme ...

in Kenya. Itumbi runs a company dealing with online reputational management, digital

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

and

search engine optimization Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the quality and quantity of Web traffic, website traffic to a website or a web page from web search engine, search engines. SEO targets unpaid search traffic (usually referred to as ...

. Itumbi acted as a digital strategist for

during the

2022 Kenyan general election General elections were held in Kenya on Tuesday, 9 August 2022. Voters elected the President of Kenya, president, governors, Senate of Kenya, senators, members of the National Assembly (Kenya), National Assembly, and members of county assemblie ...

. In February 2022, an investigation into the Israeli hacking and disinformation operation Team Jorge showed that Itumbi had been the target of hacking ahead of the election. During a meeting with the undercover journalists, the group's leader Tal Hanan showcased how he was able to hack into Itumbi's

Telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...

account. Itumbi subsequently confirmed to '' The Star'' that his Telegram account had been infiltrated, and that he noticed “increased activity” in the run-up to the election.

Controversies

Fake Ruto Assassination Letter

In July 2019 Itumbi was arrested for authoring a fake assassination letter claiming that there was a plot to assassinate

. According to

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

, Itumbi posted the fake assassination letter on his social media then deleted it. In June 2023 a Nairobi court dropped charges against Itumbi after it found that the

penal code A criminal code or penal code is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of, a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain Crime, offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that ...

he was accused of violating was found to be

unconstitutional In constitutional law, constitutionality is said to be the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; "Webster On Line" the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or set forth in the applic ...

Fake News

In April 2014

Daily Nation The ''Daily Nation'' is a Kenyan newspaper. It was founded in 1958 and is published in Nairobi. History The ''Daily Nation'' was started in the year 1958 as a Swahili weekly called ''Taifa'' by the Englishman Charles Hayes. It was bought in 1 ...

falsely reported that Itumbi was involved in creation of numerous

fake news Fake news or information disorder is false or misleading information (misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, and hoaxes) claiming the aesthetics and legitimacy of news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person ...

posts on social media accounts. In the same month Itumbi deleted some of his social media posts and apologised for creation of fake news posts.

ICC Hacking

In March 2012 Itumbi was arrested for hacking the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

website and exposing witnesses in the case against Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy.

References

Living people Kenyan civil servants People from Kirinyaga County 1985 births {{Kenya-bio-stub