There are claims circulating both on Twitter and Facebook, stating that Kenya failed to hold an event to mark the world anti-Corruption Day because funds allocated for the event went missing.
The claim has been shared through text posts as well as an image showing a newspaper article with the headline ‘Kenya Fails to mark World Anti-Corruption Day as Funds meant for the event go missing’. These posts began circulating on December 8, 2020.
KENYA FAILS TO MARK THE WORLD ANTI-CORRUPTION DAY!
Funds Go Missing! (Alleged)#KenyaAt53 #KissFM pic.twitter.com/yRO2RsP3Jx— Evans Bett (@iam_bett) December 13, 2016
Kenya fails to mark World Anti- Corruption Day as funds meant for the event go missing.
— Captain Dominic Omondi (@CaptainDominicO) December 10, 2020
Background
The world marked the International Anti-Corruption Day on December 9, 2020.
Various reports on misused, missing, misappropriated and stolen public funds have rapidly been making news headlines in Kenya over time. The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) shows that Kenya has not made much progress in fighting corruption. The latest CPI report reveals that Kenya listed at position 137 out of 180 countries assessed and obtained a score of 28 out of 100 in the corruption index.
“Since 2012, Kenya has scored between 25 and 28, out of 100, having recorded a score of 27 in 2018, depicting slow progress in the fight against corruption”, a statement from Transparency International – the organization that produces the CPI reports every year – reads. The statement that was issued in January 2020 adds that Kenya ranks “below the global average score of 43 and the Sub-Saharan average score of 32” in the latest CPI report.
Verification
Contrary to claims that Kenya failed to hold an event to mark the World Anti-Corruption Day, there are posts on the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) Twitter account showing that different events in different counties were held. According to the tweets posted on the EACC account on December 9, there was an event held in Nandi County, another in Kiambu County and another in Nyamira County. The World Anti-Corruption commemoration events were also covered live on NTV.
Nyamira County procession today as we commemomorate the International Anti-Corruption Day. The Procession is led by H.E. Hon. Amos Nyaribo Deputy Governor Nyamira County and EACC Commissioner Dr. Dabar Abdi Maalim. #UnitedAgainstCorruption #IACD2020 #RecoverBetter pic.twitter.com/IdOQmZlfhs
— EACC (@EACCKenya) December 9, 2020
Moreover, a Google image reverse search of the image containing a newspaper article that allegedly reports Kenya’s failure to hold the anti-corruption commemoration events reveals that the image is actually from 2017. The image was featured on the Meme website on April 4, 2017. The article that contains this report was published in The Standard newspaper. It was posted on The Standard website, which indicates the date of publication as 2017 and featured on the satire column called the ‘Wacky Leaks’.
Verdict
Claims that Kenya failed to mark the World Anti-Corruption Day because funds were lost are FALSE.
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