Tired of insults: Kenyan President explains why he closed his Twitter account in 2019

While he has deactivated his Twitter account since March 2019, the Kenyan President gave more information on this decision. He was at the time one of Africa’s most-followed leaders on the bluebird social network.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta gave more details about his Twitter account’s deactivation in March 2019 at a press conference. The head of state said he was tired of the social network’s insults, saying they sometimes prevented him from sleeping.

He explained that “nothing constructive” came out of the discussions on Twitter, adding that he preferred face-to-face exchanges with other leaders.

“I prefer to talk to my wife, sleep, and wake up in the morning to work,” he said on the sidelines of the Building Bridges Initiative.

One of Africa’s most-followed leaders

In 2018, the Kenyan President was, however, the most popular leader of sub-Saharan Africa on Twitter, according to a study by the communications agency Burson Cohn & Wolfe. Near 3 million people followed his profile.

During the deactivation of his Twitter and Facebook accounts, security breaches were mentioned. His chief of staff had notably mentioned “unauthorized access” to the President of the Republic’s official accounts.