A photo showing four lions lying on a mound of soil with an elevated bridge-like structure in the background, and a JCB excavator in the foreground has been shared on Facebook.
The caption reads: “Lions watch destruction of their habitat as express road is being constructed through Nairobi National Park.”
While Kenya’s move to build a railway line across the national park sparked controversy, is the government now keen to build the expressway through the same park?
We checked.
A video released by the Kenya National Highways Authority, shows that the expressway will be built on the existing road, which passes outside the national park.
The bridge-like structure seen in the picture is the standard-gauge railway.
The Kenya Wildlife Service, the government agency which manages the park, issued a press release on 24 June 2020 in which it called the reports that the Nairobi expressway was being built next to the railway line as false.
“This is not true, and (it is) a total misrepresentation of the facts,” the agency said in a statement posted on Twitter.
“The correct position is that a local contractor engaged by KWS is improving the road joining KWS Headquarters to Central workshop inside the park. Currently, he is scooping murram from a quarry near the Standard Gauge Railway for use on the existing murram road,” the agency said. – Grace Gichuhi
The caption reads: “Lions watch destruction of their habitat as express road is being constructed through Nairobi National Park.”
While Kenya’s move to build a railway line across the national park sparked controversy, is the government now keen to build the expressway through the same park?
We checked.
‘Misrepresentation of facts’
A video released by the Kenya National Highways Authority, shows that the expressway will be built on the existing road, which passes outside the national park.
The bridge-like structure seen in the picture is the standard-gauge railway.
The Kenya Wildlife Service, the government agency which manages the park, issued a press release on 24 June 2020 in which it called the reports that the Nairobi expressway was being built next to the railway line as false.
“This is not true, and (it is) a total misrepresentation of the facts,” the agency said in a statement posted on Twitter.
“The correct position is that a local contractor engaged by KWS is improving the road joining KWS Headquarters to Central workshop inside the park. Currently, he is scooping murram from a quarry near the Standard Gauge Railway for use on the existing murram road,” the agency said. – Grace Gichuhi
For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false
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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.
Further Reading
[email protected]: The challenges of working across Africa
Misinformation knows no borders and Africa Check often responds to similar false claims from country to country.
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