A feud has emerged within Deputy President William Ruto’s communication as a scandal involving Dennis Itumbi surfaced early this week.
According to a credible source at the Annex, Itumbi, the former Senior Director in charge of Digital, Innovation, and Diaspora Communication at State House is accused of misappropriation of public funds meant for a communication team attached to the DP.
In documents seen by the Nation, Itumbi was pivotal in the formation of Nexus, a team of 36 professional digital communication experts infamously referred to as the 36 bloggers.
According to the documents, the team’s job description was to feature the DP on digital platforms (social media and blogs), including keeping track of the achievements of the Jubilee Government.
At formation, Itumbi presented a list of 36 individuals drawn from across the country. The bloggers were offered a four-year contract with the Public Service Commission (PSC) regularizing their terms of engagement with a starting salary of Sh 32,000 per month.
However, 13 individuals declined the offer, citing that the remuneration was insignificant compared to the job description that required them to among others accompany the DP across the country to give him adequate coverage.
According to our source, Itumbi then replaced the 13 individuals with names of unknown people whom he referred to as ‘ground operatives’. That meant the 13 ‘new’ individuals were never required to be at the DP’s office in Annex as the rest and would report directly to Itumbi who was the overall boss.
Our source further revealed that, the salaries meant for the 13 unknown bloggers amounting to Sh 416,000 per month is channeled to Itumbi for the past four years. Besides the salaries, Itumbi also pockets their per diem whenever the DP is on official duty outside Nairobi.
These revelations have caused sharp differences within the team as they accuse Itumbi of misusing them for the past four years, with a section of them threatening to lodge complaints with relevant authorities.
Records from the accounts office indicate that Itumbi has received Sh 29million from public coffers meant for the 13 ghost bloggers that have never stepped their foot in Annex not attended Nexus meetings or any of DP Ruto’s working tours across the country.
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