FAKE: This digital card on Charlene Ruto being endorsed for Deputy President position is fabricated

The news outlet has denounced the graphic.

A Facebook post with a digital card purportedly by Kenyans.co.ke on Kenya’s first daughter Charlene Ruto being endorsed for the Kenya Deputy President position is FAKE.

The post reads, “Change of tune as Residents of Tharaka Nithi and Embu County endorses Charlene Ruto for the Deputy President position.”

“A section of Tharaka Nithi and Embu Residents have endorsed Charlene Ruto for the Deputy President position,” the card reads.

An image of Kenya’s President William Ruto’s daughter is featured on the card.

The claim was shared in the backdrop of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua facing eleven charges brought against him in an impeachment motion initiated by Kibwezi West Member of Parliament Mwengi Mutuse. Gachagua was impeached on 17 October 2024 after the Senate voted to uphold the charges against him.

The purported card, however, does not appear on Kenyans.co.ke’s official social media platforms, where the publication publishes such graphics. To authenticate the card, PesaCheck contacted Brian Muuo, the Head of Social Media at the news outlet, who dismissed it as “Fake.”

The media outlet also flagged the graphic as fake in a Facebook post dated 17 October 2024.

“This post did not emanate from our media house. We flag it as FAKE. For official communication from kenyans.co.ke, always visit the official website and verified social media pages,” the post reads.

There is no evidence from a credible source to support the claim that the first daughter was purportedly endorsed by Tharaka Nithi and Embu residents.

On 18 October 2024, Cabinet Secretary of Interior and Administration of National Government Kithure Kindiki was nominated by Ruto to deputise him, following Gachagua’s impeachment. The nomination was subsequently approved by members of parliament.

PesaCheck has looked into a Facebook post with a digital card purportedly from Kenyans.co.ke on Charlene Ruto being endorsed for the deputy president position, 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 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 Peris Gachahi and edited by PesaCheck copy editor Paul Tajuba and chief copy editor Stephen Ndegwa.

The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck managing editor Doreen Wainainah.

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.