Kenyatta University has been a top trend on Twitter since Saturday, July 9, when President Uhuru Kenyatta waded into the row between the institution and its affiliate Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital over the ownership of the land where a World Health Organization (WHO) facility will be built.
President Kenyatta called out the university management for opposing plans to cede part of the learning institution’s land to WHO, which is setting up a Sh600 million emergency hub to cater for its regional operations.
Speaking during the launch, the President said that some individuals "do not reason with the nation in mind", saying such managers should shape up and be ready to go home with him as he retires in under a month after his reign in office comes to an end.
To analyse the data, Nation.Africa used a Twitter trends analysis tool to collect tweets around 'Kenyatta University' from July 10 to 12, to investigate the issues, traits, narratives, and actors who spearheaded this conversation that spawned from President Kenyatta's statement.
@Kipmurkomen – this is the handle that has contributed the most to this trend with a total of 813 activities (Tweets, retweets and likes) on it. The handle belongs to the Elgeyo Marakwet County Senator, Kipchumba Murkomen.
A Nation.Africa Twitter trends analysis on Kipchumba Murkomen's tweet over KU trend.
His tweet has gained a lot of traction from his 2.1 million Twitter followers and this has been a huge contributor to the trend.
@MakauWaMuli was another another big player in this trend with a total of 130 activities. His tweet over the same has since gained a lot of engagement.
Going by his profile, @MakauWaMuli is an influencer among other titles.
A Nation.Africa Twitter trends analysis.
Though there’s some level of impartiality in the kind of tweet he sends out, @MakauWaMuli seems to be leaning more towards the Kenya Kwanza Coalition.
@gabrielOguda is another top account contributing to the grandstanding of the Kenyatta University trend.
Mr Oguda, who comments, through satire, on the country's political machinations, has a huge following of over 400,000.
This has seen the tweet attain some level of visibility. Going by his tweet history, @gabrieloguda is a critic of the Kenya Kwanza Coalition.
How Gabriel Oguda's tweets around the KU hashtag was amplified on Twitter.
@konkilily – While this account has no original post carrying the trend Kenyatta University, it has contributed massively through retweets and likes totaling to 126. With a following of 345 on Twitter and over 3,000 tweets, Konkilily’s bio reads; Anti Owour, Anti UDA, AntiM7.
A Nation.Africa Twitter trends analysis over Kenyatta University.
From the tweet record, the account is a tough critic of DP Ruto and an ardent supporter of the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition.
These are just some of the top, but not all contributors to the Kenyatta University trend on Twitter.
The top Twitter accounts that created content around KU trends, earning the highest engagement.
The tweets also saw several accounts retweet and push the KU trends over and above their normal activity on the social media platform.
A Nation.Africa Twitter trends analysis.
Editors note: This is the first part of @nation journalism around social media analytics to de-mystify the Twitter accounts pushing trending topics in Kenya, and the faces behind them.
