FAKE: This graphic purportedly quoting MP Mwengi Mutuse isn’t from Citizen Digital

Both the publication and the legislator have disowned the digital card.

This digital card shared on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), purportedly from Citizen Digital and quoting Kibwezi West Member of Parliament Mutuse Mwengi, is FAKE.

The card has Citizen Digital branding, an image of the legislator and a quote that reads, “I deeply regret my actions. Bringing the motion forward has brought me endless trouble, and now I feel like an enemy of the people. I can no longer move freely, and earlier this evening, I was even chased out of a hotel in town.”

The card was shared on 1 October 2024, a day after Mutuse tabled an impeachment motion against Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua at the National Assembly.

The claim was also shared here and here.

But is the card authentic?

Although it has Citizen Digital branding, the card does not appear on the publication’s verified Facebook, X, and Instagram accounts, where such graphics are shared.

PesaCheck contacted Citizen Digital’s reporter and social media manager, Ikahu Susan, who dismissed the card.

“This is not our poster,” Ikahu said.

PesaCheck also contacted Mutuse, who dismissed the card via a WhatsApp message.

“Fake,” the MP told PesaCheck.

PesaCheck examined a digital card shared on Facebook and X, purportedly from Citizen Digital and quoting Kibwezi West MP Mutuse Mwengi and found it 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 Rodgers Omondi and edited by PesaCheck senior copy editor Mary Mutisya 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.