IN SHORT: Only weeks into the job, Kenya’s new national police spokesperson already has to contend with imposter social media accounts. But Resila Onyango isn’t on social media.
In November 2022 Resila Onyango became Kenya’s new police spokesperson, succeeding Bruno Shioso.
Since then, several Facebook accounts using her name have emerged.
One of them is “Resila Onyango”. The account has been making announcements supposedly from the National Police Service (NPS).
In a 1 December post, the account congratulated the Kenya Prisons Service on its 45th passing out parade.
In an earlier post dated 25 November, “Resila Onyango” posted a supposed directive from the NPS inspector general that, among other things, said the licences of nightclubs operating in residential areas would not be renewed.
Other posts on the Facebook account seemingly show the daily engagements and whereabouts of Onyango.
But is the Facebook account legit?
‘Unscrupulous imposters with criminal intent’
The account was created on 8 November, the day Onyango was appointed to her new role.
But its posts are riddled with grammatical errors. This would be unlikely if the account were legitimate.
The NPS has dismissed accounts impersonating Onyango, including this one.
On 25 November, it tweeted: “Disclaimer. We wish to caution the public against interacting with multiple accounts purporting to belong to the National Police Service Spokesperson and Director of Corporate Communications at the NPS, Dr. Resila Onyango, PhD.
“These existing fake accounts are maintained by unscrupulous imposters with criminal intent. We urge the public to desist interacting with the imposters, as we liaise with other agencies for appropriate action on the pages and their handlers.”
The tweet thread includes screenshots of the imposter Facebook accounts, stamped “FAKE”.
The NPS added: “Please note that the Police Spokesperson does not operate any social media account and only transacts her official police duties through the NPS official communications platforms.
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