FAKE: This memo purportedly issued by Moi University is fabricated
A memo shared on Twitter purportedly issued by Moi University and announcing the resumption of face-to-face learning for all students is FAKE.
The memo, dated April 29, 2021, contains the forged logo and letterhead of the institution of higher learning. The author of the memo, it indicates, is the university’s deputy vice-chancellor, Prof Isaac Kimengi, and it is addressed to all students, parents and guardians.
The memo indicates that commencement of the 2021/2022 Academic Year’s face-to-face learning begins on May 10, 2021.
“Parents /Guardians are kindly requested to provide for the students an upkeep amount of at least KSh 22, 000 per month so as to enable them conduct themselves comfortably,” adds the memo.
The post accompanying the memo repeats the claim therein adding, “how you understand the memo is up to you.”
However, there is no information corresponding to the contents of the memo on the university’s website, Facebook and Twitter pages, where it routinely posts announcements.
Additionally, the official timetable for the resumption of face-to-face studies published on the university’s website and shared on its Facebook and Twitter pages on May 6, 2021, does not apply to all students as claimed.
It also does not contain the requirement for parents to provide upkeep money to students as claimed. Instead, each group of students has been allocated an opening date beginning on May 10, 2021, with examinations scheduled for May 17, 2021, for those groups identified. Some groups of students will continue with online classes.
In a Facebook post on May 3, 2021, the university shared a screenshot of the memo with a ‘fake’ stamp on it, and warned the public against fabricating memos.
“Any person who forges any document or electronic record is guilty of an offence which, unless otherwise stated, is a felony and he is liable, unless owing to the circumstances of the forgery or the nature of the thing forged some other punishment is provided, to imprisonment for three years,” reads the post.
Earlier in May 2021, PesaCheck debunked a similar memo, this time purportedly from the University of Nairobi. Aside from a change of header and the institution’s name, the memo bears the exact content — including the erroneous name of the VC — as that shared in the post in question.
PesaCheck has looked into the memo shared on Twitter purportedly issued by Moi University and announcing the resumption of face-to-face learning for all students, 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 chief copy 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.
PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organisations.