This article published by the NewsPost news website contains a headline stating that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has supposedly advertised 300,000 temporary jobs.
Background
In a recent fact-check, Piga Firimbi found this fake advertisement which claimed that IEBC had been issuing cash prizes of Ksh 4,700 to people who registered to vote in the upcoming August 9, 2022 elections.
The commission also recently flagged a fake job advertisement for 262,665 polling clerks, in what appears to be a wave of disinformation aimed at the upcoming elections, IEBC and political aspirants, such which Piga Firimbi debunks in this collection of fact-checks on the Kenya Elections 2022 archive.
Verification
The NewsPost article does not contain any links or showcase any leads to the alleged advertisement of 300,000 temporary jobs at IEBC. This advertisement is also not on the official IEBC Twitter or Facebook accounts or website where they would ideally post such announcements.
The NewsPost article simply makes reference to remarks that IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati made in his speech at the Anglican Church of Kenya Bishops and Senior Clergy conference on Tuesday, April 19, 2022. The IEBC chair indeed mentioned that the commission would be hiring 300,000 temporary employees.
“Each polling station will have about six temporary staff. So if you look at all that we projected a figure of about 50,000 polling stations against the ones we had in 2017 which were 40,883. If you multiply that by six we are looking at temporary staff of about 300,000. Which then drives our wage bill to about Ksh6 billion for temporary staff alone. This will offer employment opportunities to our youth,” Wafula Chebukati said at the conference.
“But this will be done sometime in June/July, towards the tail end of the electoral process,” he added, pointing toward the falsity of the claim that IEBC has already advertised for the said temporary jobs. Piga Firimbi found that these positions are not advertised on IEBC’s vacancies web page as claimed.
Verdict
Claims that IEBC has advertised for 300,000 temporary jobs are MISLEADING.
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