“REVEALED: Ugandans taking over Kenya’s capital, Nairobi,” reads the headline of what looks like the front page of the Daily Monitor, a private Ugandan newspaper.
The front page, dated 12 July 2022, was posted in a Facebook group with more than 30,000 members. It shows a photo of Johnson Sakaja, the Nairobi county senator.
The caption to the post reads: “It has been revealed that powerful Ugandans officials are keen to take over Nairobi. They are already working on a strategy to get control of Nairobi so that they can have economic control over East Africa.”
“These officials have vowed to to protect Sakaja as long as he will let them do what they (Ugandans) want in Kenya's capital. Sakaja is now apparently in talks with them and once he wins, Nairobi will no longer be the same again.”
Sakaja is running for governor of Nairobi county in Kenya’s 9 August 2022 general elections. He is on the ticket of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), one of the parties in the Kenya Kwanza alliance.
But his academic qualifications – or lack thereof – caused a national furore in June after their authenticity was questioned. You need to have a university degree to be a governor in Kenya.
Sakaja had claimed he graduated from the University of Nairobi but the institution said he hadn’t completed his undergraduate studies. Sakaja then presented a degree in management from Uganda’s Team University.
Kenya’s higher education regulator has revoked its earlier recognition of this degree. Sakaja was in court over the issue at the time of writing but remained a candidate.
Did the Daily Monitor newspaper report that Ugandans are plotting to “take over” Kenya’s capital, Nairobi?
Fake front page
The same post was also published to groups with tens of thousands of members.
But Daily Monitor, through its official Facebook account, dismissed the front page.
“FAKE NEWS ALERT: Please disregard this fake Daily Monitor cover and treat it with the contempt it deserves. Beware of those using social media to spread #FakeNews,” they wrote.
As elections draw nearer, voters in Kenya have faced an avalanche of misinformation. This is yet another example.
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