Uhuru’s handlers should get rid of their arrogance

While the presidency is supposed to be a symbol of national unity, their shortsightedness has turned it into a party asset only for those who voted for them. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Itumbi exemplifies everything that is broken about President Uhuru Kenyatta’s public relations team.
  • He either enjoys relative invincibility because of his contributions during the campaign that he can freelance as he pleases without consequence.
  • He and the other “senior directors” of PSCU spent much of the last term in acts of open insubordination to their boss, Manoah Esipisu.

For at least two hours last week, a shamefully petty tweet disparaging a prominent Kenyan advocate was visible for all on the official Presidential Strategic Communication Unit’s (PSCU)handle.

“Well Slay Queen Lawyer ama ni Socialite Lawyer got his match,” it said and attached a screenshot from outspoken lawyer Donald Kipkorir.

He had posted a characteristically provocative tweet about hawkers and sheds in Karen that rubbed many the wrong way as his unapologetic posts often do.

PSCU gloated about the backlash, tagging one of its directors, Dennis Itumbi, in the tweet as well as Kipkorir’s frequent sparring partners, Ahmednasir Abdullahi and Senator Kipchumba Murkomen.

After a major blowback about the unprofessional content from a government account, the offending tweet was taken down with a limp apology.

But following the #SlayQueenLawyer hashtag reveals a lot more tweets from multiple accounts insulting the lawyer who supports Nasa leader Raila Odinga.

In the interest of full disclosure, Kipkorir and his law firm represent me in a matter still currently in court.

BROKEN PR TEAM

I accused Itumbi of employing an unknown number of bots or fake accounts to amplify his propaganda when we both appeared on NTV’s Press Pass and he didn’t deny it.

He is in charge of digital at PSCU so he has direct access to the social media accounts and he has previously tweeted using the same hashtag on his personal account. You can now figure out how that tweet ended up there.

Itumbi exemplifies everything that is broken about President Uhuru Kenyatta’s public relations team. He either enjoys relative invincibility because of his contributions during the campaign that he can freelance as he pleases without consequence.

He and the other “senior directors” of PSCU spent much of the last term in acts of open insubordination to their boss, Manoah Esipisu.

The former Reuters reporter who heads the State House communications shop quickly dropped his journalistic instincts and became a typical civil servant who expects the media to sing the administration’s praises, Chinese style.

He leads a team of many boldface former journalists, some of whom I’ve worked with but who all now suffer an incurable strain of sycophancy.

Instead of focusing on their job, they are on social media insulting those who disagree with President Kenyatta and his party.

SELF-IMPORTANCE

How else would you explain President Kenyatta’s embarrassing photo with suspected Anglo Leasing scandal mastermind Deepak Kamani?

The same Head of State who said it will no longer business as usual and every shilling would be accounted for mixing with a man whose name pops up in every corruption scandal is a new low.

If his communications team got over their own self- importance and worried about optics, they would know that such a meeting should never happen, whether in public or private.

He has been speaking out of both ends of his mouth, authorising a further payment of Sh1.4 billion to two Anglo Leasing-type firms while calling the scam “a thorn in the flesh of the Kenyan nation”’

How he is comfortable being photographed with such a man when his party has frequently railed against Nasa’s embrace of another well-connected “tenderpreneur”, Jimmy Wanjigi, is baffling.

Kipkorir is demanding action against the author of the tweet, saying they violated Chapter 6 of the Constitution and the Public Officer Ethics Act.

NATIONAL DISHONOUR

Nothing will be done, obviously, because this ranks rather low in the long list of transgressions by this incompetent communication team.

While the presidency is supposed to be a symbol of national unity, their shortsightedness has turned it into a party asset only for those who voted for them.

The lack of inclusivity in the National Honours this Jamhuri Day was just the latest sign of a self-centered mentality run amok.

That is why athletes who bring international recognition to Kenya or surgeons who perform historic procedures don’t get awards but friendly bloggers and famous queue-standers do.

Right now they go only to those who know the right people or have the correct last names and the latest roll made such a mockery of the whole thing that nobody truly deserving would even bother.

The other problematic attitude Esipisu, Itumbi and Co have adopted is the false belief that “you’re either with us, or against us”, such that those who criticise them are automatically assumed to support the Opposition.

There is only one government at a time and every citizen has a right to demand accountability from it without their intentions being questioned.

Those entrusted with public office must see themselves as holding them in trust for, and in service to, the people. We want a country that works for all Kenyans, not just some, and anyone who feels more entitled to it than others should not hold public office.

Is he right? Send your comments to Larry Madowo at [email protected]