President elect and his deputy have been active on social media — Twitter and Facebook — every day letting the online community know how they feel, and what they do. NATION
By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU ashiundu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Monday, March 18 2013 at 20:53
Posted Monday, March 18 2013 at 20:53
IN SUMMARY
- They have been active on social media — Twitter and Facebook — every day letting the online community know how they feel, and what they do.
Kenya’s President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto have spent their first 10 days after their electoral victory partly proving their campaign mantra that they are a “digital generation”.
They have been active on social media — Twitter and Facebook — every day letting the online community know how they feel, and what they do.
In the ten days that he has been operating out of his temporary abode as the President-elect — at Nairobi’s Kenyatta International Conference Centre and from his home close to State House — Mr Kenyatta has sent 40 tweets.
He has over 129,000 followers on Twitter and with every tweet he sends out, it is re-tweeted — re-sent by followers — to hundreds of thousands of other people on the popular micro-blogging site.
On Monday day morning, the President-elect tweeted through his account @UKenyatta: “Good Morning guys. Wishing you all a productive week ahead full of God’s blessings.”
His deputy, Mr Ruto, whose account is @WilliamSRuto, added: “Have a fruitful week everybody. I wish you God’s blessings as we build the nation together.” Mr Ruto has more than 29,943 followers.
His deputy, Mr Ruto, whose account is @WilliamSRuto, added: “Have a fruitful week everybody. I wish you God’s blessings as we build the nation together.” Mr Ruto has more than 29,943 followers.
They have been on Twitter and Facebook throughout their campaigns, and on voting day, they all urged their supporters to turn up and vote peacefully. After they got the certificate, they thanked their supporters, then, the whole week, they have kept their supporters updated every step of the way.
Mr Kenyatta even let his supporters know that he had received a phone call from a Tanzanian minister January Makamba, when he re-tweeted Mr Makamba’s tweet: “Kudos Kenya for maintaing peace. Congrats my brother President-elect @UKenyatta for a deserved victory. It was nice talking over the phone.”
When they met ambassadors, women representatives, constitutional office holders, permanent secretaries, the private sector and even some of the former presidential candidates who lost in the polls, they put that information in the tweets they sent out, complete with pictures to prove that they actually mean what they said.
The two, who are poised to take over from President Kibaki, if the Supreme Court agrees with the verdict of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission about their victory, are facing charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court.
If they are confirmed to the top job, they will join Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame who are active Heads of State of Twitter. Mr Kagame’s account is @PaulKagame, while Mr Kikwete’s account is @jmkikwete.
When the IEBC made the declaration, both Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto turned to Twitter to thank their supporters.
“Today we celebrate the triumph of democracy; the triumph of peace and the triumph of nationhood. Thank you for electing me as your President,” Mr Kenyatta sent out a tweet — actually a paragraph from his acceptance speech.
He had returned to Twitter after a five-day hiatus — between voting day and the official declaration of results.
His running-mate beamed: “God turned every hurdle into a bridge.”
“Thank you Kenya!” Mr Ruto added in a separate tweet that day.
The morning after Pope Francis was elected, Mr Kenyatta turned to Twitter and “on behalf of the Kenyan People” and as “a Catholic” congratulated the new Pope. That congratulatory message was shared 195 times by his followers, and hundreds other times by his followers’ followers.
The First Lady-in-waiting, Mrs Margaret Kenyatta (below), also joined Twitter on the day that her husband was declared winner.
That day alone, she sent out eight tweets. She celebrated a peaceful post-poll period, congratulated her husband and his running mate, and kept her followers up to speed with her movements.
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