The feud began just after 5pm on Tuesday subsequent to this Mmegi's (@MmegiOnline) tweet; "Skelemani warns Kenyatta on ICC #Kenya #Botswana #Uhuru". The tweet which was sharing an article from the Mmegi website soon went viral as many people re-tweeted and quoted it in their tweets. The Kenyan media picked up the story and by Wednesday morning #Botswana was trending in Kenya. Mmegi website received an unusually high number of visitors from Kenya. Google Analytics report showed that 10.61 percent of visitors on Tuesday and Wednesday this week were from Kenya. The Kenya's Daily Nation and NTV Kenya's Facebook status updates on the matter received 4,745 and 2,382 comments respectively.
The Kenyan government described the minister's statement as "contemptuous". Government spokesman Muthui Kariuki told the Daily Nation; "The government finds the statement contemptuous. We know what is required of us and will continue to respect that position".On Wednesday, Skelemani made a U-turn on his diplomatic gaffe by "retracting" his earlier statement, in an ambiguous press release that was first published in the Kenyan media.The social networks, Facebook and Twitter were inundaunted with bitter exchanges between Batswana and Kenyans.Trends such as #SomeoneTellBotswana and #SomeoneTellKenya were started on Twitter as each side spat venom in defence of their countries. Below we sample some of the tweets and comments;
