Back to Africa Check

No, Kenyan rapper King Kaka is not dead

Facebook posts widely circulating in Kenya since late December 2019 claim that the musician Kennedy Ombima, popularly known as King Kaka, is dead.

The posts claim that Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigation is looking into “the sudden death of King Kaka”. 

The posts link to a short article, published on a phony website, which mimics the website of Kiswahili radio station Milele FM, but publishes false news stories. 

A screenshot of the story was also shared on Twitter, repeating the claim that “King Kaka died in what seemed as a plotted death. His lungs were filled with a poisonous gas”.

There are many fake celebrity death reports on social media, causing unnecessary panic. How true is this particular story? We checked.



Milele FM’s official response and King Kaka’s social media


On 26 December, Milele FM responded to the story through their official Facebook account .

Milele FM shared a screenshot of the article and captioned it: “FAKE NEWS ALERT!!!! To all our followers and fans. This is not the official Milele FM News website account.” 

As the rumours about his death swirled, King Kaka’s Twitter account showed that he is alive and well. 

His Facebook page was active, updating fans on his upcoming shows. 

There is nothing on either social media account or other reporting that hints at the musician being unwell. The reports are a hoax; King Kaka is not dead. – Grace Gichuhi

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.