A public Facebook group shared a poster on July 7, 2021 with claims that the Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Interior Security Dr. Fred Matiang’i will be running for presidency alongside Kirinyaga County Governor Anne Waiguru as his running mate.
Background
As preparations for the upcoming general elections in Kenya, a selection of 36 applicants was done for the commissioner position at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). Four of these positions were left vacant between 2017 and 2018. The interviews that began on July 7, 2021 are also expected to run till July 22, 2021.
Verification
Voted as Governor for Kirinyaga County under the Jubilee Party in 2017, Anne Waiguru dismissed claims that she is up for a deputy president position in the upcoming 2022 elections. Speaking in Kerugoya town on July 7, she maintained that she would be defending her gubernatorial seat. A video of this speech was also published by The Star.
In an article on the People Daily news website, Governor Waiguru said that she has not been approached by anyone concerning a deputy presidential seat adding that the posters making rounds on social media should be treated as rumors.
“As the Governor of Kirinyaga I’m focusing on my re-election during the 2022 elections because I have not discussed the same with any of the leaders who have declared their presidential interests,” Waiguru said.
A list of registered political parties by the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties does not contain the Kazi Alliance Party, which is in the poster claimed to be Governor Waiguru and CS Matiangi’s party.
In the past couple of days, #MatiangiPresidency has been a hashtag that appears to be endorsing CS Matiang’i for president, and a similar tweet from Mutahi Ngunyi.
There is no official statement from Matiang’i concerning these endorsements.
Verdict
Claims that Kirinyaga governor will be contesting in the presidential election are FALSE.
This story was produced by Africa Uncensored in partnership with Code for Africa with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.
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