Kenya: Fake Quote Falsely Links Expressway Toll Fees to Muhoho Kenyatta, Brother of Kenyan Ex-President

1 October 2024
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Makinia Juma Sylvia

Fake quote falsely links expressway toll fees to Muhoho Kenyatta, brother of Kenyan ex-president

IN SHORT: Social media users have posted a graphic that appears to be from the news agency Kenyans.co.ke. The graphic attributes a quote to KeNHA director general Kung'u Ndung'u claiming that some of the money from the expressway tolls is going to Muhoho Kenyatta. But the graphic is fake and should be ignored.

A graphic making the rounds on social media since August 2024 attributes a quote to the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) director general Kung'u Ndung'u.

The graphic, dated 24 August, features a photo of Ndung'u and the logo of Kenyans.co.ke, suggesting it was published by the popular Kenyan online news outlet.

The quote reads: "For every Shs.10 spent by motorists on the Nairobi Expressway, Shs.6 is paid to Mountain Hill Global -- a company owned by Muhoho Kenyatta."

The Nairobi expressway is a 27-kilometre road that begins in Mlolongo in Machakos county, east of Nairobi, passes next to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, cuts through the city centre of the Kenyan capital, and ends in the Westlands suburb of Nairobi county.

The road was constructed by a Chinese company. The Moja Expressway, a subsidiary of the China Road and Bridge Corporation, operates the road and collects tolls to recoup its investment.

The company will operate the Nairobi expressway for 27 years from its opening in 2022, after which it will hand it over to KeNHA.

Muhoho Kenyatta is the younger brother of former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta. Uhuru served as the president from 2013 to 2022. Both are sons of Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of democratic Kenya.

There has been controversy over who owns Mountain Hill Global company.

But did Kenyans.co.ke publish a graphic linking the Nairobi expressway toll fees to Muhoho Kenyatta? We checked.

Ignore fake graphic

The mainstream media would report such news that affects Kenyans. However, Africa Check found no such reports from any media house.

Kenyans.co.ke posted the graphic on its social media accounts with the word "fake" stamped on it.

"This post did not emanate from our media house. We flag it as FAKE. For official communication from http://Kenyans.co.ke, always visit the official website and verified social media page," the media house said on its X account.

We searched KeNHA's social media pages and found no such reports.

On 7 September 2024, KeNHA dismissed the graphic as "fake" via its X account and Facebook page.

The graphic being circulated is fake and should be ignored.

The fake graphic also appears here, here, here, here, here and here.

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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