Titus Wekesa Sifuna, the man accused of impersonating President William Ruto on X, has been released on a cash bail of Ksh. 100,000 or an alternative bond of Ksh.1 million.
On Tuesday, Sifuna was initially brought before the Milimani Law Courts as part of a miscellaneous application. He is accused of posting offensive content about President Ruto and his family using an X account with the handle @5thethief and the username “I must go”.
According to The prosecution claims the posts caused a great deal of public outrage and were viewed as a danger to the peace and unity of the country. “The reputation of the nation is seriously threatened by the content of the X account. In court, the prosecution said, “The President is a symbol of national unity and should be respected and honored by all.”
The court also heard that some of the content shared on the account including texts and and images could amount to hate speech and risk inciting ethnic tension.
Additionally Sifuna is also charged with changing the account’s profile photo to show the President, which officials claim was misleading and possibly dangerous.
In order to give police time to finish their investigations, prosecutors had asked the court to hold the suspect for seven days. But since the case is still pending, the court decided to issue bail.
