Kenya: Ignore Fake 'Citizen TV' Graphic Claiming Protests Have Cost Kenya Ksh900 Billion in 30 Days

14 August 2024
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Makinia Juma Sylvia

Ignore fake 'Citizen TV' graphic claiming protests have cost Kenya KSh900 billion in 30 days

IN SHORT: A graphic supposedly from the news platform Citizen Digital claims that Kenya lost KSh900 billion (US$6.9 billion) in just 30 days due to protests. It is fake.

A graphic posted on social media claims that Kenya's economy has lost KSh 900 billion in just 30 days due to anti-government protests.

The graphic, dated 20 July 2024, reads: "In just 30 days Kenya's economy has lost Shs.900 Billion due to GenZ protests. This means that the economy has lost Shs.30 billion every day or a Shs.1 billion every hour."

The circulating graphic includes the logo and branding of Citizen Digital, the online platform of Kenya's largest broadcaster, suggesting that the news outlet published it.

The graphic started making the rounds in July as Kenyans geared up for the demonstration that threatened to occupy the main airport as part of the planned areas on 23 July.

Since 18 June 2024, Kenyans have consistently held weekly demonstrations to protest against bad governance, corruption and mismanagement of public funds by government officials. The protests have led to dozens of deaths and lost revenue for businesses.

But did Citizen TV, one of Kenya's most-watched television stations, publish such a graphic? We checked.

Fake graphic

Citizen Digital often posts graphics on their verified social media accounts, including Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). We scoured their accounts for the graphic and came up empty.

Njeri Ngugi, an editor at Citizen Digital, told Africa Check: "We marked this as fake. This is not from us."

Ngugi sent us the circulating graphic on WhatsApp with the word "fake" printed in red.

The graphic is fake and should be avoided.

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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