Is This ‘Donation Appeal for Starving Kenyans’ Legitimate?

Facebook posts here and here, allegedly from the Kenya Red Cross appealed to Kenyans to donate towards the aid of Kenyans affected by drought. The posts claim that well-wishers can supposedly donate food items and other material but is also open for cash donations via Mpesa.

Background

Kenya’s recent drought crisis sparked a wave of mis/disinformation, which included outdated data and unrelated images. Piga Firimbi debunked some of these, including the use of data from 2019 debunked here, a claim that falsely stated that 7.5 million Kenyans were affected by the drought as fact-checked here, as well as the use of unrelated images to showcase the impact of the droughts as was found here and here.

Verification

The poster contains misinformation on the number of Kenyan counties affected by drought, citing 14 counties instead of 23 counties which is communicated in official Red Cross statements like here, and is also the official number as found in a fact-check by Piga Firimbi here.

The #drought still rages in all 23 arid counties with most households barely able to put one meal on the table.

Sec-Gen Dr @AshaMohammed_ led yesterday’s food distribution in Lomoputh and Kagiteitei villages in Kangatotha Ward, #Turkana.

1/2 pic.twitter.com/4yNfozG4jg

— Kenya Red Cross (@KenyaRedCross) August 27, 2022

Moreover, through a post on its official and verified Facebook page here, and Twitter here, the Kenya Red Cross warned Kenyans against falling for scam donation appeals, indicating the organization’s only legitimate Mpesa details, which are different from those shared on the Facebook post titled ‘Donation appeal for starving Kenyans’.

#PRESSRELEASE: Warning Against Fake Kenya Red Cross Paybill Numbers pic.twitter.com/T2fUlvOLkZ

— Kenya Red Cross (@KenyaRedCross) November 4, 2022

Verdict

The Facebook posts titled ‘Donation appeal for starving Kenyans’ are FAKE.

This fact-check was produced by Africa Uncensored with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck, International Fact-Checking Network, and African Fact-Checking Alliance network.