No, Kenya's Star newspaper didn't report that a cabinet secretary's son was organising a coup
IN SHORT: A newspaper column circulating on Facebook claims that the aggrieved son of a senior government official is planning a coup in Kenya. But it's fake, and the Star has denied publishing it.
The son of a Kenyan cabinet secretary is focused on acquiring illegal weapons to stage a civilian coup. That's the claim in what appears to be a screenshot or photo from the print version of Corridors of Power, a popular political gossip column in the Star newspaper.
The column, posted on Facebook on 16 January 2025, reads:
Whispers in the political underworld revealed a startling scheme. Sources report that a current CS's son-a power broker using his father's deep ties in both business and politics-was spotted last year in a secretive meeting with 3 notorious warlords from South Sudan's conflict-ridden Jonglei State."The meeting allegedly focused on procuring illicit weapons to orchestrate a civilian coup. The purported plan? To capitalize on the growing momentum of the Gen Z protests, escalating the unrest into full-blown chaos and paving the way for a calculated overthrow of President William Ruto's government.
It includes a photo of the public service cabinet secretary, Justin Muturi, implying that his son is planning a coup.
The context
On 22 June 2024, Leslie Muturi, the public service cabinet secretary's son, was abducted after leaving a club. Embakasi West member of parliament Mark Mwenje, who was driving behind Leslie, witnessed the incident. While police initially denied knowledge of the abduction, an investigation was launched, and he was released the following day. Details of the release remained unclear at the time.
The story resurfaced on 14 January 2025 when Muturi revealed his efforts to find his son. He said he contacted top security officials, including police inspector general Japheth Koome and the national intelligence service (NIS) director-general Noordin Haji, but was unsuccessful.
A breakthrough came when an NIS insider told Muturi that his son was in their custody. Informed by Muturi, president William Ruto confirmed the detention with Haji and ordered Leslie's release.
Muturi is the first member of the cabinet to publicly criticise the government's handling of the wave of kidnappings in Kenya.
In this context, the column began to circulate online with a story headlined: "Civilian coup plot?"
But did the Star's Corridors of Power column report this? We checked.
Ignore fake story
We searched the Star's website for the story and came up empty.
But there are other red flags. We couldn't find any reports of the planned coup in the local media, as would be expected.
The screenshot is a fabrication. The Star posted the image on its verified X platform and Facebook accounts with the stamp "FAKE".
"This post is not associated with us in any way and should be treated as FAKE. Get authentic news from our verified accounts," the newspaper said.
The false claim also appears here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.