Facebook can make or ruin you in a blitz.
One Ezekiel Mutua has learned the hard way that not everyone on social media is your friend.
A few weeks ago, the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) chair was on social media showing off his diplomatic passport which did not go down well with many.
In addition to sharing his high flying experiences, Mutua was unforgiving to any who dared criticise him or get ‘too personal’.
As fast as the glory came, so did it last.
At 3pm on Wednesday, Mutua says he will surrender his prestigious document and revert to his ordinary passport one he does so.
In a Facebook post Mutua said, “Following extensive consultations on this matter, and having been informed of a formal request sent to my office by the Director of Immigration Maj. Gen. (Rtd) Gordon Kihalangwa while I was away in the US, I wish to announce that I will voluntarily surrender the said diplomatic passport on arrival at JKIA at 3pm this afternoon.”
He added that as a law-abiding citizen and senior official in government he would fully comply with the request “as I do not wish to have this issue become a distraction to my work”.
Mutua insisted that the passport was legally issued to him and that he had not contravened any law in acquiring it.
“I remain grateful to the government for entrusting me with this privilege for the time it lasted. I will continue to execute my duties with as much zeal and passion with an ordinary passport.”
He said that an earlier statement issued on Sunday was in the context that he had not received any formal communication on the issue by then.
“Now that a formal request has been done in line with the law, I will gladly oblige and voluntarily surrender the said document to the Immigration Desk at the JKIA,” he said.