# William Gitau

William Kabogo Gitau is Cabinet Secretary of the Ministry of Information, Communications & The Digital Economy. The leader of Tujibebe Wakenya Party, he was the First Governor of Kiambu County, a position he won in the March 2013 General elections.
Prior to becoming Governor, he served as the Member of Parliament for Juja Constituency, a seat he first secured in 2002 and then regained in the 2010 by-election after a successful court petition. In that election, he defeated George Thuo of the PNU, who came in a distant second, while the previous MP, Stephen Ndichu finished in third place.
In 2017, William Kabogo Gitau was defeated by Ferdinand Waititu in the Jubilee Party's gubernatorial nominations. Following this setback, he left the Jubilee Party and announced his intention to contest the governorship as an independent candidate. Ferdinand Waititu ultimately won the election.

## Early life and education

William Kabogo was born on 4 April 1961, in Komothai village, Githunguri Constituency. He attended St. George's Ruiru Primary School and then continued his studies at Thika Technical School from 1975 to 1978. Afterward, he pursued a Bachelor of Commerce degree at Punjab University in India.

## Political career

William Kabogo burst onto the political scene in 2002 when he sought the Kanu ticket for the Juja Parliamentary Seat, then held by incumbent Stephen Ndichu, who was running under Kanu’s presidential candidate, Uhuru Kenyatta. Although Kabogo lost that election, he quickly switched to the lesser-known Sisi Kwa Sisi party and successfully defeated Ndichu in the general elections.
However, Kabogo faced a setback in 2007 when he lost his seat to George Thuo. Determined to reclaim his position, he successfully petitioned the election results, leading to a by-election where he triumphed over Thuo with a landslide victory on a Narc-Kenya ticket.
In 2013, Kabogo contested and won the Kiambu Gubernatorial Elections, making him the first Governor of Kiambu County. However, his fortunes changed in 2017 when he lost the governorship to Ferdinand Waititu after failing to secure the crucial Jubilee Party ticket, which was considered essential for success in Kiambu County, the political stronghold of Uhuru Kenyatta. In hindsight, his attempt to run as an independent candidate proved to be a challenging and ultimately futile endeavor.
On 19 December 2024, President William Ruto nominated former Kiambu Governor William Kabogo to head the Ministry of Information, Communications, and the Digital Economy. Kabogo appeared before the National Assembly for vetting on 14 January 2025. He was sworn in at State House Nairobi on Friday, 17 January 2025, and officially assumed office.

## Potential misinformation on social media platforms

In May 2021, a false statement circulated on social media claiming that William Kabogo had conceded defeat in the parliamentary by-election for the Juja constituency. PesaCheck, East Africa’s first public fact-checking initiative, in collaboration with Code for Africa—the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator—investigated the claim. Their analysis concluded that the statement was indeed fake.