Dennis Itumbi comes clean on fallout with former President Uhuru, his role in Ruto’s gov't

He says he became friends with the retired Head of State before he embarked on a political journey through the digital space. 

 “We became friends and I got into politics through the digital space.I became a consultant for his campaign. And the rest they say is a good tweet.,” Itumbi told Citizen TV. 

The Digital Strategist says he would later fall out with the then President after he (Uhuru) asked him to stop supporting the then Deputy President, William Ruto. 

“The fallout with Preisdent Uhuru kenyatta happened because he wanted me to stop supporting William Ruto. I told him that I would not do that. I believe in this cause & in this journey and that is what I was going to do.,” Itumbi adds. 

Despite the fallout, Itumbi says the retired president remains his friends. He says the former president called him two days after the Ruto-led administration was sworn in and congratulated him. 

“He called me 2 days after Kenya Kwanza was sworn in. He wished us well. From where I sit he is still a friend. We have no hard feelings at all. He remains to me a man who I respect.” Itumbi said. 

After his fall-out with President Uhuru Kenyatta, Itumbi shifted to the William Ruto campaign, setting up an online lobby group known as the Hustler Nation Intelligence Bureau or HNIB. 

“We managed to create an alternative media house. The mainstream media was either not too friendly to us or was removed from the content we wanted to put out. We did not get as much mainstream support & coverage as we would expect from a campaign. Whereas social media was an alternative, we needed something bigger than social and that is where HNIB came in. We created an alternative media house.  At one point we had more engagement than mainstream media houses.” he adds 

“We created an alternative platform for telling hustler nation stories…………Most of this info was hand-written notes delivered to contacts that we had given our numbers. A lot of it was face to face. Most of the time I met my sources in hospital wards. Everywhere else I was tracked except there. That is where we got this information and shared it out.,”  

Very few topics were off-limits for the HNIB and he rubbed prominent personalities including cabinet secretaries the wrong way.

 “The reason why none of those CS went to court to sue us for defamation is because we were true. We were outsiders in the government and it was very easy to sue us but no one did………” Itumbi says

“There were 2 tests. Is it true and is there a life being saved? We got a lot of info and we had to filter. What we could verify we passed…what we could not we dropped. Most of the stories were based on at least 3 sources. At one point we got some fake sources and we had to kill a story. We would meet at 4pm daily to look at our stories and this was a good way to vet stories…….. “

“What started as an experiment ended up being bigger than us. When you hear that a former President referring to us in a meeting means that we got to the seat of decision-making. It was too big that at the end of the election we did not know what to do with it as we formed the Govt,”

Three months into the term of the new government, Itumbi’s formal role at the State House remains unclear

He describes his current assignment as a ‘come here’, ‘go there’, which entails ‘working with the president of Kenya for the people of Kenya’. 

“My job is come here go there. Its JD is to ensure that I work with the  president of kenya for the people of kenya. I chaired the Jamhuri day tech committee. We are going to Embu for universal health care….” he says. 

“...You will see me in international conferences. Moses Kuria has tasked me to oversee the Kenya international conference in March. I am enjoying myself. I was in charge of the committee that delivered the branding and comms for the Hustler Fund,”  

Itumbi enjoys close ties with President Ruto, a man he describes as tireless

“Most of the days. The President is holding his first meeting at 6.30am and he ends a meeting earliest at 9pm. In this William Ruto State House a meeting can end at 1pm. The engagement, listening and actions, everyone wants it to happen in the shortest time possible. The mess must have been very deep because the correction is taking very intense effort,” he adds. 

Recently, Itumbi conducted a charity event dubbed the Chapati Forum to mark one year since he went missing and was later dumped at Kasarani in Nairobi by unknown assailants.

 “I know the DCI & police will issue a statement on that investigation. I have a brief because I am a complainant. This was done by rogue police officers some of whom are under arrest for a different matter. It was ordered by senior police officers who are in court as we speak,” Itumbi recounts the said abduction

“It has taken me time but I can now say I forgive these people. Let them all be identified. I hope they will be a state capture commission so that they are exposed. But even after all that I will say they knew not what they were doing. I therefore forgive them,” 

 Dennis also blames rogue police officers for the disappearance of two Indian nationals, Mohammad Zaid Sami Kidwai and Zulfiqar Ahmed khan who have been missing in Kenya since July 23. 

“We interacted with them in the course of campaigns and they said they had something to offer Kenya Kwanza. They had some ideas around the language, tonality of our social media, graphics and posters. Out of the work they presented we used 40% of it.” Itumbi says. 

“They brought in fresh ideas. It is so sad that we have not heard from them since they disappeared. We have hope that they will be found alive. Some DNA output. The entire criminal justice system is working on it. In the entire campaign I worked with them most closely. By the time they were disappearing we had finished working together,”  

The Digital Strategist says he is in touch with two families of the missing Indians. 

“ I am in touch with two of them. One in dubai and one in India. I hope they will be found alive. I pray that this never happens again,"

Itumbi also addresses the disappearance of  Bogonko Bosire, a blogger who went missing in 2013. 

 “Most of the people who speak about Bogonko Bosire weren’t concerned about him when he was alive. There is the brutal hope that one day he will appear and explain where he has been.  Bogonkos relationship with me was too close. He went to a rehab… no one knows that,” he adds.

“Bogonko was once kicked out of his job and I rescued him. None of the guys making noise were there. When he got lost I am the one who got his Safaricom records and looked for him. I went out of my way to try and get all the answers that I could. I did all I could do for a friend…. I will continue looking for him and never lose focus on that part,” 

In a recent TV interview Itumbi’s mother, Catherine Wanjiku, described him as a radical since childhood, something he does not deny.

“My job is to be in the mud, swimming, doing the actual job, compiling , creating. Like every good race there are people cheering in the race and others are jeering,” he adds. 

Itumbi says he wants to be remembered as the home of dreams when the history books are written. 

“For the first 5 years of jubilee, the title of my book would be what the boys saw. As for the general book about life and what history would remember me for…I want to be remembered as the home of dreams. Connecting dreams to opportunity,”