Court case exposes scheme to have foreigners run Ruto's social media

President William Ruto’s social media accounts and communication could have the backing of foreigners outside the country, whose task is to manage a positive image while eliminating critical comments online.

This damning allegation is part of a court case involving Mary Maina, an alleged seller of spying software, and her company, Jipe Inc, against Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo, Head of Public Service Felix Kosgei, Attorney General, businessman Jayesh Saini, and the President’s speechwriter Eric Ng'eno.

Kiptoo, Kosgei, Saini and Ng'eno filed separate replies, denying any intent to purchase the software.

Following their denial, Maina filed a further document detailing a blow-by-blow account of her interaction with ‘ Ruto men’ from November 7, 2023, when she first allegedly met Ng'eno.

Maina alleged that the President had expressly sought a tailored digital communication solution as there was an increasing concern over the fragmenting and counterproductive nature of messaging surrounding the Kenya Kwanza administration’s agenda.

In separate filings before Commercial Judge Peter Mulwa, Sheldon Trent, who claimed to have been retained by Maina for the software development, said that Maina informed her that Ruto had allegedly tasked Ngeno with sourcing a technological solution that would, among other things, ‘spy’ on Kenyans.

“Jackie further informed me that a said Mr Eric Ngeno, who was  a close confidant of the Kenyan President and his official script writer, had been tasked by the Kenyan President H.E William S. Ruto to source for a technological solution that would ensure consistency and clarity in communication amongst other things but not limited to ‘spying’ on the citizenry of Kenya,” alleged Trent.

Maina, on her end, mentioned that Ngeno, in a WhatsApp conversation dated 18 December 2023, stated that the government’s digital strategist, Dennis Itumbi, had allegedly hijacked the government’s messaging apparatus to make himself the focal point.

Meanwhile, Saini, according to Maina’s alleged conversation with the President’s scriptwriter, had allegedly leveraged his financial contributions and relationships to insert himself into the core messaging space, resulting in internal disarray and reputational risk.

Back to 2023, Maina claimed that on November 22, she was taken to meet Saini, who was allegedly with his assistant, Nishant Mishra.

According to her, Saini allegedly spoke of the administration’s difficulties with information control and digital communication.

Maina stated that the businessman further alleged that the previous government had eliminated two Indian nationals he had previously hired to develop a similar system.

Zulfiqar Ahmad Khan, Mohammed Zaid Sami Kidwai, and a Kenyan driver, Nichodemus Mwania, went missing on July 22, 2022.

 She claimed he praised Ngeno for finding a homemade solution.

Maina also claimed that Saini, during the meeting, allegedly disclosed that Ruto had rejected a proposal to buy one of the country's major newspapers for use as a propaganda machine.

According to her, Saini intimated that Ruto had settled for software that would be at the heart of their strategy to gain control of the digital narrative.

According to her, she pitched her software solution for close to two hours. During the session, she alleged that Saini was not attentive, but Nishant was getting the value and utility of the software.

 “Jayesh claimed he had been directly tasked by the President and pledged to rent an entire office floor and hire a dedicated team to ensure successful and expedited deployment,” she alleged.

Ms Maina further claimed that Nishant showed her the system they were using. She stated that using two i iPhones and a laptop, she logged into the President’s Twitter and Facebook accounts and showed her a tasking process for manually deleting critical comments.

“ According to her,  he then disclosed some 11 accounts from India which were being used to post supportive comments under the President’s content.

Maina paints an alleged desperate picture of the government operatives to control the narrative, to the extent of using deep fakes to troll and counter anyone who is deemed critical.

Another startling claim included alleged instructions to hack phones and communication devices.

“Ngeno disclosed that he had received further instructions from the President to incorporate aggressive digital offensive features into the system. On the call, he provided a detailed list of political and civil society targets, accompanied by operational instructions for each.

The instructions included hacking of phones and communication gadgets, creation of deep fakes, black propaganda, psychological disruption operations, and planned “D-day” coordinated online attacks. This list, as well as the explicit instructions, were incorporated into the Statement of Work (SOW) which formed the basis of the Tesxo subcontract signed on December 23, 2023,” she alleged.

Maina claimed that Ngeno told her the money to finance the software purchase would be from the Treasury.

Her colleague, Trent, alleged that she had told her that Ngeno and she had presented the proposal to a government financier and Oligarch Jayesh Saini, who was in charge of financing the whole software.

Maina claimed that the deal crumbled, after which he started getting death threats through her phone and email. She alleged that Saini and Ngeno had also fallen out.

In an earlier reply, Saini said he was not privy to any contract between Maina and the other parties in the case.

He disputed that he was a government financier and not an oligarch, as the case had described him.

“ The fourth defendant contends that averments by the plaintiff in paragraph 13 are falsehoods and are merely intended to malign his name and reputation…Having perused the plaint, the fourth defendant finds that the plaint is hopelessly defective and that the plaintiff has not presented any facts linking the fourth defendant to the averments made herein, corollary to this plaint ought to be struck out with costs,” he replied.

Kosgei and Kiptoo also jointly deny everything related to the saga. They further allege that Maina has admitted an intention to violate the constitution by making spyware.

In her further affidavit, however, she argues that the project mirrored the operations of Cambridge Analytica, which the Kenyan government had previously engaged to conduct comparable psychological and digital operations.

“This precedent shows that there is nothing novel or improper in the scope of the Plaintiff’s mandate, nor any illegality in the kind of services provided, save for the State’s later failure to honour contractual and procedural guarantees,” she replied.

In his reply, Ngeno argued that the software would not have passed muster as it violated the Data Protection Act, 2019.

According to him, the discussions with Ms Maina were nothing but exploratory discussions following her incessant requests to pitch her ideas to mere people, including private sector players, hoping it would translate to a business opportunity.

Ngeno said that he (Saini) raised questions that Maina could not explain and which the businessman was not persuaded by her pitch.

“The fifth defendant avers that the plaintiff’s alleged reservations against working with the fourth respondent were an attempt to avoid anyone that would challenge her ideas or be an impediment to a successful marketing pitch,” he replied.

He also denied that the pitch was presented to the President or approved by the same.