IN SHORT: A memo, supposedly from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, banned two Kenyan government officials from travelling to the US due to their involvement in a controversial airport deal. However, the document is fake.
In June 2023, Kipchumba Murkomen, then minister for roads, transport, and public works in Kenya, announced that the government would invite investors to build a new state-of-the-art terminal at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
In July 2024, a whistleblower revealed that JKIA operations would be taken over by controversial Indian conglomerate Adani Group.
US authorities charged Adani Group founder Gautam Adani in November for his role in a bribery scheme. In response, Kenya’s president William Ruto cancelled the country’s procurement deal to control JKIA operations with Adani.
In this context, a document circulating on Facebook claims that Murkomen and Kenyan lawmaker Oscar Sudi have been banned from travelling to the US for their alleged involvement in the Adani procurement deal process.
The document is supposedly from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services and appears to carry the signature of its director, Ur Mendoza Jaddou.
The document, dated 1 December 2024, reads: “Travel restrictions on member of parliament Oscar Kipchumba Sudi and cabinet secretary Onesmus Kipchumba Murkomen by the U.S. government.”
It also appears here, here and here.
But has the US Citizenship and Immigration Services really banned Murkomen and Sudi from travelling to the US? We checked.
Ignore fake document
Africa Check searched the news releases section of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services website for one dated December 2024 and came up empty.
Another red flag is that the document contains grammatical errors such as “cooridination” instead of “coordination”. This is unusual for official communication from a government agency.
If the memo were genuine, it would also have been reported on by credible news sources. We found no credible articles about the travel ban.
On 2 December, the US embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, posted the document on its official X page with the word “fake” printed in red.
The document has also been published here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
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