Kenyans were brought to amaze on the wee hours of Monday, August 29, when a Facebook account of the outgoing Kakamega governor, Wycliffe Ambetsa Oparanya, asked his area residents to vote for the Amani National Congress (ANC) candidate, Cleophas Malala, in the gubernatorial race.
Governor Oparanya is the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) deputy party leader and has previously campaigned against Malala as the party has its candidate in the contest.
The post was shared on his verified Facebook page with a photograph of the ANC gubernatorial candidate with hashtags (#VoteCleophasWahunguMalalah).
The outgoing county boss has since flagged the post as fake, stating that his account was hacked by "agents of doom."
"This is to notify the general public that my Facebook page has been hacked by agents of doom," Oparanya stated on his Twitter handle.
He added that he had notified the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) to start probing the same.
"Ignore any post on my Facebook page as we await DCI to handle the matter and restore it."
Efforts by Kenyans.co.ke to reach out to the outgoing county boss for a comment on the alleged hacking proved futile as calls went unanswered.
According to the Kenyan law, unauthorised access constitutes a crime under Section 14 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, 2018.
The penalty for the unauthorised access upon conviction is a fine not exceeding Ksh5 million, imprisonment for the term not exceeding three years or both.
The law further states that unauthorised access with the intent to commit or facilitate commission of a further offence is an offence and upon conviction, results in a fine not exceeding Ksh10 million, imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or both.
The county is currently in a mini-election where former Kakamega county Senator, Cleophas Malala, is facing off with six other contenders among them his main opponent, Fernandez Barasa of ODM party.
Other contenders in the race are Shakhalaga Khwa Jirongo of United Democratic Party (UDP), Suleiman Sumba (KANU), Samuel Omukoko of Maendeleo Development Party (MDP), Michael Osundwa and Austin Otieno both independent candidates.