By the time of his nomination as the man to take over from Joseph Boinet as the Inspector General of Police, local media could not locate an image of Mr Hilary Mutyambai either on social media or from their albums.

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President Uhuru Kenyatta nominated Mr Mutyambai, an assistant director in National Intelligence Service, attacked to counter terrorism on Wednesday to take over from Mr Boinnet. 

“In exercise of the powers conferred by Article 245(2)(a) of the Constitution and in accordance with the procedure set out in section 12(2) of the National Police Service Commission Act, the President nominates Mr Mutyambai as the Inspector General of Police,” the executive order stated.

According to Article 245 (2) (a) of the Constitution, the IG will be approved by the Parliament after vetting by the National Assembly’s Administration and National Security Committee.

The NPSC Act requires the National Assembly to approve or reject the nominees for the position of IG within 21 days from the date the Speaker makes the announcement.

In the same order, the President appointed chairperson Eliud Kinuthia and members of the National Police Service Commission (NPSC); Lilian Mutio Kiamba, Eusebius Karuti, Naphtaly Kipchirchir Rono, Alice Atieno and John Tentemo.

But virtually all media houses resorted to using of Mr Boinnet's image in various articles with TVs only posting police berets while making reference to the new nominee to the lucrative position.

It took the intervention of blogger Robert Alai to post the first ever photo of Mr Mutyambai on social media, as Kenyans continued to search from possible links to get clues about Mutyambai.

 "Gotta admire how secretive intelligence guys operate, this is the only photo available online of new Police Commissioner Hillary Mutyambai. When Noordin came, him too had only one photo like this one was pulled and availed from his NIS portfolio," tweeted Mr Kenya West .

Ali Hussein added: "This Man Hilary Mutyambai infact even hidden to Dr Google! However besides the verry marginalised information about him, unconfirmed report indicate that he could be the loving husband to one Nzioki Susan & a loving father to David and Nzuki." 

Interestingly, the similar fate befell virtually all media houses last year when President Uhuru Kenyatta nominated Noordin Haji, also from NIS, to the DPP post.