NAIROBI — A data analytics firm at the center of a controversy over its acquisition and use of personal Facebook data in the 2016 United States presidential election is under new scrutiny for its role in Kenya’s presidential election last year.
Senior officials of Cambridge Analytica, whose parent company is the SCL Group, said in an undercover video by Channel 4 News of Britain that the company played a critical role in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s two campaigns, in 2013 and 2017.
The revelations come only weeks after Mr. Kenyatta and his chief rival, Raila Odinga, reconciled after months of contention.
In the video, Mark Turnbull, a Cambridge Analytica executive, said the company twice rebranded Mr. Kenyatta’s political party, wrote his campaign speeches and his political platform, and twice conducted surveys of 50,000 people to ascertain Kenyan voters’ hope and fears.
A spokesman for Mr. Kenyatta referred inquiries to his party, the Jubilee Party, whose top official did not respond to messages seeking comment on Tuesday night.
Mr. Kenyatta won re-election last October after two presidential votes. The first, in August, was nullified by the Supreme Court, which cited widespread irregularities and ordered a second election. Mr. Odinga pulled out of the second vote, which was held in October, saying the process was unfair.
