Titus Wekesa Sifuna, 22-year-old, has been arraigned before Milimani Law Courts for impersonating President William Ruto on social media and falsely claiming the Head of State was planning to step down.
He was presented before Senior Principal Magistrate Geoffrey Onsaringo on Tuesday .
In an affidavit filed in court, Police Constable Peter, attached to the DCI Headquarters, Operations Support Unit, stated that Wekesa operated a parody account on X (formerly Twitter) under “I Must Go,” impersonating President Ruto.
“The X (formerly Twitter) handle changed its name from the original @theif5th and username ‘I Must Go’, which featured a photo of the Head of State, President Ruto of the Republic of Kenya,” Officer Mwangi told the court.
While seeking to detain Wekesa for an additional seven days, the DCI detective told the court that the investigation involves a serious offence under the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act.
“The contents in the X handle account are of great harm to the reputation of a country being that the presidency is a symbol of national unity and ought to be respected and honoured by all,” said Detective Mwangi
DCI alleges that Wekesa’s posts amounted to “hate speech which can lead to ethnicity among the members of the public.”
According to information obtained from the National Registration Bureau by DCI, the National Identity Card used to register the SIM card operating the X account giving Kenyans false hope that Ruto is about to give in to Kenyans’ pressure to resign belongs to Wekesa.
Part of the investigation will involve forensic analysis of mobile phones, laptops, and hard disks seized from the suspect.
The DCI is also seeking certified records from the X platform regarding the activity of the account in question.
DCI says Wekesa was living in Msambweni for the better part of this year when he was posting the contents on the X account.
In his statement to investigators, the suspect claimed he was living in Msambweni, while volunteering as a teacher and denied any malicious intent behind the parody account.
