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‘Fake poll alert!’ Kenyan polling firm Infotrak did not publish performance ranking of Kenya’s principal secretaries

IN SHORT: A graphic titled “principal secretaries performance rating” has been circulating on Facebook, attributed to Infotrak. But the Kenyan market research company says the poll is fake.

A graphic posted on Facebook appears to rank the performance of Kenya’s principal secretaries.

Principal secretaries are the accounting officers or administrative heads in Kenyan ministries. There are at least 51 in the country.

The graphic features the name and logo of Infotrak Research and Consulting, a polling and market research company, and the names of 20 people. The principal secretary in the mining ministry, Elijah Mwangi, is ranked first, and Ismail Madley, who heads up youth affairs, 20th.

The graphic has also been posted on Facebook here, here, here and here

While Infotrak conducts such surveys to gauge the public’s views on the performance of political leaders, fake polls have previously been used to distort public perceptions.

But is there an Infotrak poll on the performance of the principal secretaries? We checked.

KenyaInfotrak_Fake

‘Fake poll alert’

On 13 March 2024, Infotrak said that the poll was fake. 

The company posted the circulating image on its X account with the word “fake” stamped on it.

“FAKE POLL ALERT,” Infotrak wrote.

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