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No, viral graphic quoting Kenyan pro-democracy Presbyterian minister Njoya is fake

A graphic circulating on Facebook in August 2022 attributes a quote to Timothy Njoya, a retired minister in the Presbyterian Church of East Africa. Njoya is widely known for promoting democracy in Kenya.

In the quote, Njoya appears to say that former Kenyan prime minister and Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition presidential candidate Raila Odinga should not be criticised for his alleged involvement in an attempted coup in Kenya in 1982 .

“Hypocrisy is ingrained in their minds. Pharisees. They want to remind us of Raila's involvement in the 1982 coup, but are conveniently silent about the factors that led us there,” the supposed quote reads.

“For starters, Raila was fighting for the freedoms we enjoy today. Moi had confined public appointments to Kalenjinland, and totally ignored other regions. Also, you cannot separate Ruto from Moi's ill.”

The graphic with the quote appears to have been produced by Kenyans.co.ke, showing the news website’s logo.

Njoya is widely known for championing democracy during president Daniel arap Moi’s regime. Moi is described as having ruled Kenya “with an iron fist”. He died in February 2020. 

Odinga, the Orange Democratic Movement leader, will face deputy president and United Democratic Alliance candidate William Ruto and two others in Kenya’s general election, to be held tomorrow.

Odinga was mentioned as being part of the failed 1982 coup. His political opponents have used the suggestion of his involvement in their campaigns. Ruto, a Kalenjin, is also reported to have served under Moi’s regime.

The graphic has been posted here, here, here, here and here.

But is this really a quote by Njoya, and reported by Kenyans.co.ke? We checked.

False Timothy Noya quote

Graphic fake, quote fabricated

Africa Check searched for the graphic on Kenyans.co.ke Facebook and Twitter accounts and came up empty.

On 6 August, Kenyan.co.ke posted the graphic on social media, stamping it fake.

“This post did not emanate from our media house. It does not conform to the in-house branding rules and did not go through the multiple approval checks set in place to prevent misreporting. We, therefore, flag it as FAKE,” the post reads.

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