A tweet published on Philip Etale’s account, who is the ODM Party’s Director of Communication, claims to show an image of the Linda Katiba initiative members in a meeting with Deputy President William Ruto’s aide, Farouk Kibet.
Text on the tweet claims that Farouk Kibet is allegedly sponsoring the Linda Katiba initiative.
Background
Linda Katiba, which is a Swahili term that translates to mean ‘defend the constitution’ is a movement that counters the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) which is led by President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga who seek to amend the constitution of Kenya. Linda Katiba was launched on February 1. In a statement issued on December 4, the Linda Katiba members declared their opposition to BBI on grounds that it is unconstitutional, a misuse of public funds and state machinery, and that citizens have reportedly been coerced to support the BBI. The movement is the first official challenger of the BBI and is mostly comprised of members in the civic society.
Verification
The image that appears photoshopped was created by putting together photos from different unrelated events. Piga Firimbi found that Farouk Kibet’s photo used in the tweet was captured in 2018 at his father, Paul Teigut’s funeral in Uasin Gishu County. Linda Katiba’s Daisy Amdany’s photo in the tweet is on the other hand similar to one published on the Hivisasa website in 2017. It is also evident that the profile image on Ms Jerotich Seii’s Twitter account was cropped and added to the photo published on Philip Etale’s tweet.
The photoshopped image was created from this original image posted in a tweet.
Original image #LindaKatiba @DavidNdii https://t.co/RUpWXRZ27e pic.twitter.com/KCOyNEYqmI
— Sharon (@jesang_) February 3, 2021
At the same time, there is no media report on the alleged meeting between Farouk Kibet and Linda Katiba members. The said meeting is also not mentioned on the Linda Katiba Twitter account where the movement routinely updates the public on ongoing events.
Verdict
Claims that the image shared on Twitter shows that members of the Linda Katiba movement were in a meeting with Farouk Kibet are FALSE.
Claims that Linda Katiba met with Kibet are false