Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has written a demand letter to Deputy President William Ruto’s blogger, Dennis Itumbi, instructing him to retract a series of tweets where he referred to him as “the Ruaraka thief” or else face legal action.

The demand letter, written by V.A Nyamondi and Co. Advocates, directed Itumbi to withdraw the tweets and give an unconditional apology.

“We are instructed to demand as we hereby do, your immediate and unreserved retraction of all tweets referring to our Client as a thief, an unconditional apology to our Client and that you immediately expunge the defamatory statements from your Twitter© account. Our client further demands an unconditional apology for the defamatory statements published via your verified Twitter© account in a manner to be approved by our client,” the demand letter reads in part.

CS Matiang’i also asked Itumbi to admit liability and later engage him on the quantum of damages and any other retribution for the defamatory publications.

“That if you do not comply with the terms of this demand by close of business Friday, 13th August 2021, our Client shall institute legal proceedings against you without any further reference to you and at your sole liability for all attendant costs and consequences,” the demand letter added.

The demand letter cited a series of tweets in which Itumbi referred to the interior CS as “Ruaraka Thief”.

CS Matiang’i, through his lawyer, argues that the tweets were defamatory, malicious and have resulted in him being unjustly scandalized and exposed to hatred, ridicule and contempt as a government official and a leader in his social circle.

“We are instructed that the tweet published on 9th July 2021 and the use of the statement “the Ruaraka thief” and “the Ruaraka land thief” to refer to our client is not only false and malicious but also a deliberate misrepresentation of facts published with the sole intention of injuring our Client’s reputation,” Matiang’I argued in the demand later.

The interior CS argues that the phrase used by Itumbi has been falselyy misunderstood that he had been found guilty of corruption by the High Court of Kenya, which is not the case.