Back to Africa Check

Former Kenyan elections commission boss is well – and not dead

Ezra Chiloba, the former head of Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, is in a “critical condition” with prostate cancer, claims an August 2019 blog post.

In July three prominent Kenyans died of cancer. As Africa Check previously reported, the deaths revived media rumours about high numbers of government leaders reportedly being treated for cancer. 

The blog says Chiloba has been in and out of an induced coma at a Nairobi hospital.

The article was shared on Facebook, with users wishing Chiloba a “quick recovery”. Some went further to claim he had died, posting “RIP Ezrah Chilobe”.



‘Ignore fake news’


But on 2 August Chiloba took to his official Twitter account to dismiss the story that he has cancer.

He tweeted: “Please ignore the FAKE NEWS doing rounds. Those spreading rumours are insensitive to the pain of those who suffer from cancer. I am well, and just yesterday, I clocked my fastest 10.5 kilometres run for which I am grateful.” – Dancan Bwire 




 

Republish our content for free

Please complete this form to receive the HTML sharing code.

For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false

A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?

Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.

Publishers guide

Africa 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.

Add new comment

Restricted HTML

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a href hreflang> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote cite> <code> <ul type> <ol start type> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <h2 id> <h3 id> <h4 id> <h5 id> <h6 id>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
limit: 600 characters

Want to keep reading our fact-checks?

We will never charge you for verified, reliable information. Help us keep it that way by supporting our work.

Become a newsletter subscriber

Support independent fact-checking in Africa.