This viral tweet was shared on 30th December 2020, claiming that one Jonathan Kiprono, who is allegedly the Independent Electoral Commission (IEBC) Twitter admin, was fired after referring to the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) as the “Burning Bridges Initiative”.
IEBC Twitter admin, Jonathan Kiprono, has been FIRED after he referred to BBI as Burning Bridges Initiative. The 41 year old man from Elgeyo Marakwet County is young brother to West Marakwet constituency Mp, William Kipsang.
— Mr. Kinuthia Pius. (@Belive_Kinuthia) December 30, 2020
Similar viral claims are archived here and here.
Background
President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga, launched the BBI report on November 25, 2020, at the Bomas of Kenya following the 2017 elections that had reignited political controversy between the two.
This led to the emergence of two factions, for and against the BBI, one allegedly led by the president and the other by his Deputy William Samoei Ruto. They go by their signature monikers Kieleweke and Tanga Tanga respectively.
The launch of the verification of BBI signatures, where 400 clerks were sworn in, took place on December 30, 2020.
Verification
A look at the official IEBC Twitter handle shows that the commission issued an apology, calling it a “typographical error” and clarifying that “the error does not in any way reflect the position of the commission or its staff”.
The screenshot below shows the original post uploaded at 11 am, which has since been pulled down.
The IEBC, however, did not and has up to now not made mention of a Jonathan Kiprono or the firing of the said individual. Major news outlets such as NTV, Citizen TV and KBC Channel 1 also reported on the incident with no mention of the name.
Though we cannot independently verify these claims, the name Jonathan Kiprono appears to be a social media creation, which conveniently works seeing as it is from the deputy president’s tribe and therefore seemingly pro-Tanga tanga, to show that the IEBC is biased. This is further fueled by claims that his brother is a member of parliament from Marakwet West.
Note that the MP for Marakwet West is William Kisang not “Kipsang”.
A parody Twitter account of the said man made similar claims but the account has since been deactivated.
Verdict
The claim that IEBC has fired its twitter admin, one Jonathan Kiprono, over BBI gaffe is FALSE.
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