A screengrab posted on Facebook shows a TV broadcast with the chair of the Kenyan electoral commission Wafula Chebukati and the vice chair Juliana Cherera on the screen.
The chyron – the text on the lower part of the screen giving a summary of the broadcast – reads: “SAKAJA HAJAHITIMU Chebukati afichua kwamba Senator hana Degree.”
That’s Kiswahili for: “SAKAJA IS NOT QUALIFIED Chebukati discloses that the Senator has no degree.”
Johnson Sakaja, the senator of Nairobi, is vying to be the city governor in the elections scheduled for 9 August 2022.
The elections law requires gubernatorial candidates to have a degree from a university recognised in Kenya.
The screengrab was widely published on Facebook here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
The screengrab has the logo of Citizen TV, a TV station in Kenya, and has the words “Bomas Live” on the top right of the screen, indicating that it was a live broadcast from Bomas of Kenya.
But did the commission disqualify the senator, and is the screengrab of a real broadcast? We checked.
No mention of Sakaja in original video
A reverse image search on Google Lens led us to a screengrab of a Citizen TV broadcast with the chyron reading “Maandalizi ya uchaguzi”.
A Google search led us to a YouTube news video uploaded by Citizen TV Kenya on 2 June, the day the screengrab went viral online.
The chryon reads in Kiswahili: “IDHINI YA UCHAGUZI IEBC imeendelea kukutana na wagombea urais kuidhinishwa.” This translates as: “APPROVAL FOR POLLS: IEBC continues to meet presidential aspirants for clearance.”
The chyron then changes to “MAANDALIZI YA UCHAGUZI Mwenyekiti wa IEBC azungumzia sajili.” This means: “ELECTION PREPAREDNESS: IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati speaks about the register.”
At no point is there a mention of Sakaja and his eligibility for office. On 19 June, the electoral commission cleared him to vie for the governor’s seat.
For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false
A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?
Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.
Publishers guideAfrica Check teams up with Facebook
Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.
The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.
You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.
Add new comment