After being announced on March 9 as Kenya’s President-elect, many people have been speculating on whether Uhuru Kenyatta, together with his deputy William Ruto, will continue using their social media profiles once sworn into office.
Kenya may well be about to swear in its first ever tech-savvy president and deputy, something that could be good news for the country’s tech industry.
The two have been active on both Twitter and Facebook, which played a vital role in reaching out to the public during their campaigns across the East African nation.
Uhuru Kenyatta’s Facebook page has received close to half a million likes, making it the individual profile with the most likes in Kenya, while that of Ruto has close to 250,000 likes. On Twitter, Kenyatta’s handle has close to 125,000 followers, while Ruto’s has 25,000 followers.
These numbers illustrate the pivotal role social media played in the campaigns carried out by these two leaders.
In the event that these two leaders get sworn into office after the conclusion of the petition case filed against the election results, then Kenya will have received the first ever technology-savvy leaders.
The two were the first ones to use technology in their campaigns by launching a campaign mobile application used in reaching their supporters on smart devices including tablets and smartphones.
In their manifesto the two leaders highlighted the significance of technology in the Kenyan economy, emphasising the need to use technology to add value to various sectors of the economy, including education, health, agriculture, business and finance, governance and leadership.
Whether the two will continue being active on social media even while in office will be a matter of wait-and-see.
