Energy CS Opiyo Wandayi/HANDOUT
Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi has distanced himself and the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum from an alleged coordinated online campaign that used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate posts praising the government’s decision to withdraw a proposed electricity tariff increase.
The campaign, detailed in a report on coordinated inauthentic behaviour in Kenya, involved an actor who allegedly used Claude, an artificial intelligence chatbot, to produce batches of 50 posts designed to appear as spontaneous grassroots commentary.
The report said a large portion of the posts praised Wandayi for stopping a scheduled Kenya Power electricity tariff hike, using hashtags #PowerReliefKE and #PoweringTheNewKenya to amplify the messaging.
However, the report did not identify the person or organisation behind the activity, and found no evidence of government involvement.
Responding to the findings, Wandayi said the ministry had not authorised or participated in the alleged campaign.
“My attention has been drawn to some unverified report alleging the creation of some activity on social media that is purported to have been in praise of the actions of the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum regarding electricity tariffs,” Wandayi said.
The CS said the existence of anonymous accounts pushing political narratives did not, by itself, establish a link to government officials or institutions.
“There are probably millions of anonymous and coordinated accounts on social media pushing different narratives every day. What matters is evidence,” he said.
“The report itself does not establish that either the Cabinet Secretary or the Ministry authorised, directed, or otherwise participated in the alleged activity.”
Wandayi said the ministry would continue communicating its work through official channels and would not be distracted by speculation surrounding anonymous online activity.
“We remain focused on communicating the Ministry’s work through credible channels and will not be distracted by speculation around anonymous online activities,” he said.
The report, identified as GTG-54004: Disrupting a domestic coordinated inauthentic behaviour campaign in Kenya, said the operation was built to create the appearance of spontaneous public support for the government.
The campaign also pushed claims that the United Opposition coalition was breaking apart ahead of the 2027 General Election, targeting former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua and retired president Uhuru Kenyatta.
The report said the same AI workflow was separately used to promote Kenyan retail brands under the marketing personas “SHANKI” and “Elkins Marketer”.
Investigators said the operation appeared to be an entirely domestic Kenyan campaign. While its pro-administration tone and use of specific hashtags suggested it could have been aligned with the ruling coalition, they said they had not identified the exact organisation responsible.
The report said the actor’s messaging combined praise for the government with attacks on the opposition, a pattern it described as consistent with a coordinated electoral communications effort.
It also found that the template used for political posts had been repurposed from retail marketing, with promotional broadcasts presented as organic social media commentary.
According to the findings, the actor frequently used Claude to “humanise” and refine batches of 50 pre-drafted topics and tweets. Investigators said the model’s principal value was increasing the volume of posts and making them appear authentic, while the core political messages had already been decided by the actors.
The operation was classified as Category One on the Breakout Scale, meaning its activity remained isolated within a network of fake accounts and local influences on a single platform. The report said it failed to reach or influence real people.
The account and organisation behind the operation were removed following an internal investigation triggered by a tip shared by OpenAI about recidivist activity on its platform.
The report said the investigation also led to the development of detections based on the operation’s behavioural signature.
The findings come amid continued public debate over electricity tariffs and the government’s handling of proposed changes to power prices.
