Robert Alai
 |
Robert Alai | |
|---|---|
| Member of County Assembly for Kileleshwa ward in Nairobi City County | |
| Assumed office 9 August 2022 | |
| Governor | Johnson Sakaja |
| Preceded by | Elias Otieno Okumu |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Robert Alai Onyango Nairobi, Kenya |
| Occupation | Nairobi Member of County Assembly , Blogger |
| Website | www |
Robert Alai, HSC is a Kenyan politician, blogger and cyber-activist who currently serves as Member for County Assembly Kileleshwa ward in Nairobi City County.[1][2]
Alai, who used to run the now defunct information technology weblog at Techmtaa.com[3] earned notoriety for his stream of social rants. He was then sued and briefly incarcerated for his highly opinionated political and sometimes personal attacks on politicians, government officials and business leaders.[4][5][6]
Career
[edit]Activism
[edit]On 17 June 2019 Robert Alai was arrested in Nairobi and detained for 14 days for sharing gory photos of police officers who were killed by an IED attack in Wajir. In the wake of the Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi where over 65 people were killed, Alai was praised, both by local and international media for his timely and creative use of social media, mainly Twitter, to provide updates of what was happening at the mall. His accounts were considered as being more accurate than - and sometimes contradicting - the updates provided by the authorities.[7][8]
Controversy
[edit]In December 2014, Ndegwa Muhoro, the Kenya CID Chief, ordered the arrest of Robert Alai for allegedly sharing President Uhuru Kenyatta's contacts on Twitter.[9] He was consequently charged "with undermining Uhuru".[10] Alai's Twitter handle @robertalai was suspended on 18 December 2014, but was later reinstated.[11]
References
[edit]- ^ Omondi, Ian (23 April 2022). "ODM Nominations: Robert Alai wins Kileleshwa MCA ticket as Kibra MP Imran Okoth loses". Citizen Digital.
- ^ Naliaka, Fridah (12 September 2022). "Robert Alai vows to shut down Kileleshwa clubs in residential areas". Citizen Digital.
- ^ "Techmtaa".
- ^ "The-Star.co.ke". The-Star.co.ke. 25 June 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
- ^ "Nation.co.ke". www.nation.co.ke. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
- ^ "Standardmedia.co.ke". Standardmedia.co.ke. 23 August 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
- ^ www.standardmedia.co.ke (24 September 2013). "SDE". Standardmedia.co.ke. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
- ^ "BBC". BBC. 24 September 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
- ^ "Ndegwa Muhoro 'orders' arrest of blogger Robert Alai for allegedly sharing Uhuru's contacts on Twitter | The Star". Archived from the original on 17 December 2014.
- ^ "Blogger Alai charged with undermining Uhuru - Nairobi News". nairobinews.co.ke.
- ^ "Twitter / Account Suspended". twitter.com.