Joshua Okayo appeared in NTV Kenya and Radio Jambo interviews days after his alleged death was announced.

This Facebook post claiming that Kenya School of Law Student President Joshua Okayo was found dead near Maragua River in Murang’a County is FALSE.

The post, which bears a photo of Okayo, reads, “Kenya School of Law student leader, Joshua Okayo who was abducted last Wednesday, has been found dead near Maragua River in Murang’a County.”

According to news reports, Okayo, who was allegedly abducted on 26 June 2024 at the height of the anti-Finance Bill 2024 protests, was found alive on 29 June 2024. He was reportedly dumped near the Maragua River in Murang’a County.

Okayo appeared on an NTV Kenya interview where he narrated his 72-hour encounter with the alleged abductors.

https://youtu.be/TnbsQzSTxZo

Kenya School of Law Student President Joshua Okayo at an NTV Kenya interview published on 9 July 2024.

Okayo told NTV Kenya that while in the hands of his alleged captors, he was tortured and questioned before eventually being released. He was reportedly thrown out of a moving vehicle near River Maragua in Murang’a County.

 

In addition to the NTV Kenya interview, Okayo also appeared on Radio Jambo on 11 July 2024, where he narrated his abduction.

 

PesaCheck has looked into a Facebook post claiming that the Kenya School of Law Student President Joshua Okayo was found dead near Maragua River in Murang’a County and found it to be FALSE.

 

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 Naomi Wanjiku and edited by PesaCheck 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 the 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.