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False that Kenyan single mothers to ‘declare their sources of wealth’

An article published on the website Kenya Updates is circulating on Facebook. It claims that the government of Kenya has warned single mothers that they risk jail if they don’t declare their sources of income by December 2019.

The article claims this statement was made by Kenya’s interior minister, Dr Fred Matiang’i, at an unnamed Nairobi hotel. Matiang’i is quoted as saying the move would help curb immorality in the country.

“We cannot just sit and watch people who want to get easy money. Let us live an honest life. We will do anything humanly possible to bring those women who have dubious amounts in their accounts before the book,” Matiang’i supposedly told the press.

The article also quotes a Faith Mbura, apparently “the chair of central Kenya single mothers”, saying: “We cannot accept this move at all. Not now, not ever.”

The article has Facebook users talking, but is it true? We checked.



Fake news


Africa Check contacted the spokesperson for the interior ministry, Wangui Muchiri, to verify whether this report was true. 

“We have not communicated that information on any of our social media handles… it is fake,” said Muchiri.

We could also not find any evidence of a group called anything like “Central Kenya single mothers”, and anybody called Faith Mbura involved with such a group.

This viral story is fake: no such directive was given by the interior minister, and any response to it is also made up. – Grace Gichuhi   

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