Kenya: Fake 'Nation' Graphic Used to Claim Kenyan Lawmakers Were Paid Ksh2 Million to Pass Controversial Finance Bill

4 July 2024
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Dancan Bwire

Fake 'Nation' graphic used to claim Kenyan lawmakers were paid KSh2 million to pass controversial finance bill

IN SHORT: Kenyan lawmakers passed the controversial 2024 Finance Bill despite deadly protests. But a graphic quoting a Kenyan lawmaker as saying they were bribed to vote for the now withdrawn bill was fabricated.

"They confused us with the 2 million shillings but on reflection, I regret receiving the money to vote Yes. I wanted to use the money for handouts to my people who visit my home every now and then with all manner of needs."

That's a quote attributed to Kenyan lawmaker Rachael Nyamai in a graphic doing the rounds on social media in Kenya.

The graphic also includes the logo of the Kenyan news site Nation.

Nyamai represents Kitui South constituency in Kitui county.

Kenyans took to the streets on 18 June 2024 to protest against the 2024 Finance Bill. The bill was first tabled in parliament in May and contained controversial tax hike proposals. In response, the government scrapped some of them, but the protesters remained adamant in their rejection of the entire bill.

Despite the protests, the lawmakers approved the bill, and Kenyan president William Ruto was expected to sign it into law. After a bill is introduced in parliament, it has to pass through several key stages before it becomes law.

On 26 June, Ruto announced the withdrawal of the bill, but the demonstrations continued, with protesters demanding wider government reforms.

The graphic has also been posted here, here and here.

But is it to be trusted? We checked.

Fake graphic

Africa Check noted that the font style used in the graphic is not the one normally used by the Nation. This is the first indication that it may have been fabricated.

We also noted that the graphic was poorly designed, with misaligned words, an unusually large space in a sentence and a grammatical error. This is another red flag.

The Nation often posts graphics on its social media accounts. We scoured its verified Facebook page for the graphic and came up empty.

On 2 July, the Nation dismissed the graphic as "FAKE".

"FAKE NEWS ALERT! Please be advised that this card doing rounds on social media is fake. #FakeNewsAlert," the news agency wrote.

Read the original story, with links and other resources.
Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. Twitter @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

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