A screenshot of a tweet that seems to be from Kirinyaga county governor Ann Waiguru was posted on Facebook in Kenya on 1 September 2020.
The tweet ridicules people who thought Waiguru would be impeached by the Kirinyaga county assembly in June.
“Y'all thought I was going to be impeached. Shame on you Kenyans,” it reads. It was posted on a public Facebook group page with nearly 140,000 members.
The governor survived an impeachment bid after the senate dismissed a motion to remove her from office. But is this tweet from her?
There has been an apparent spike in fake Twitter accounts impersonating senior Kenyan government officials in 2020. This is one of them.
A Twitter search for the tweet quickly identifies the account’s handle as “@AnneWaiguruu”. It posted the tweet on 18 August.
Waiguru’s official Twitter account has the handle “@AnneWaiguru” and is verified. The governor’s account did not tweet on 18 August.
The tweet shared on Facebook isn’t from the governor, but from someone impersonating Waiguru. – Dancan Bwire
The tweet ridicules people who thought Waiguru would be impeached by the Kirinyaga county assembly in June.
“Y'all thought I was going to be impeached. Shame on you Kenyans,” it reads. It was posted on a public Facebook group page with nearly 140,000 members.
The governor survived an impeachment bid after the senate dismissed a motion to remove her from office. But is this tweet from her?
Rise in fake accounts
There has been an apparent spike in fake Twitter accounts impersonating senior Kenyan government officials in 2020. This is one of them.
A Twitter search for the tweet quickly identifies the account’s handle as “@AnneWaiguruu”. It posted the tweet on 18 August.
Waiguru’s official Twitter account has the handle “@AnneWaiguru” and is verified. The governor’s account did not tweet on 18 August.
The tweet shared on Facebook isn’t from the governor, but from someone impersonating Waiguru. – Dancan Bwire
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