FAKE: Jubilee Party has not withdrawn Kariri Njama from Kiambaa by-election
A screenshot of a text message claiming that Kenya’s ruling Jubilee party has withdrawn its candidate in the Kiambaa parliamentary by-election is FAKE.
The screenshot, shared on Facebook, purports to originate from the party to its members on electoral eve, notifying them of the decision.
“Dear Jubilee Party member, due to unavoidable circumstances, we have withdrawn our Candidate Hon Kariri Njama in tomorrow’s by-election. Tuko pamoja,” reads the message.
Njama is facing off with his closest rival, John Njuguna, who represents United Democratic Alliance (UDA) — a party allied to Deputy President William Ruto in the 15 July 2021 by-election.
The mini-poll attracted eight aspirants; Evans Wainaina, Willie Mbugua, Harrison Njoroge and David Mugo, who stood as independent candidates, as well as Federal Party of Kenya’s Isaac Karomo and Richard Njoroge of the New Democratic Party.
The by-election was occasioned by the death of the immediate former MP, Paul Koinange, due to COVID-19 complications on 31 March 2021.
However, there is no information about the said withdrawal of the Jubilee candidate on the party’s Facebook and Twitter pages or even its website.
There is also no information about the said withdrawal announcement on Njama’s Facebook page where he posts information relating to the campaigns.
Hours after the message was circulated, Njama continued to share information that indicated he was still in the race as seen; here and here. In another Facebook post on 14 July 2021, Njama dismissed the text message as fake and reiterated that he was still in the parliamentary race.
Jubilee Party secretary-general, Raphael Tuju, also issued a statement on 14 July 2021, disowning the text message and terming it propaganda by political rivals.
“It is utterly absurd that some desperados can bank on the propaganda of disinformation claiming withdrawal of the Jubilee Party candidate in the Kiambaa by-elections. The Jubilee Party candidate Karanja Kariri Njama is very much in the ballot,” read the statement in part.
Additionally, the mini-poll went on as planned — with all candidates still in the race — and on the evening of 15 July 2021, vote tallying had commenced.
PesaCheck has previously debunked a similar claim in March 2021, where it was alleged that that the Jubilee Party had withdrawn its candidate in the Bonchari parliamentary by-election, Zebedeo Opore, in favour of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Party’s candidate, Pavel Oimeke.
PesaCheck has looked into the screenshot of a text message shared on Facebook claiming that Kenya’s ruling Jubilee Party has withdrawn its candidate in the Kiambaa parliamentary by-election, and finds it to be FAKE.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
Have you spotted what you think is fake news or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.
This fact-check was written by PesaCheck fact-checker Simon Muli and edited by PesaCheck deputy editor Rose Lukalo. The article was approved for publication by managing editor Enock Nyariki.
PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water/sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.
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