By Simon Muli
A Facebook account using the name and images of Makueni County Governor Kivutha Kibwana.
Introduction
The account has a number of posts, one of which claims that the search is on for digital strategists and bloggers for recruitment to Prof Kibwana’s presidential campaign.
On June 26, 2020, the governor declared he will run for president in 2022.
The post invites youth aged 18 to 35 years who run branding and printing businesses to write to Prof Kibwana using an email address provided if they want to be considered as contractors for the design and printing of merchandise for the governor.
The post adds that an application link will be shared in subsequent posts for those who are interested in opportunities as digital strategists and as a blogger.
Verification
However, there is no information about these opportunities on the legitimate Facebook page of the governor.
Prof Kibwana’s legitimate Facebook handle is a public figure page, rather than a personal Facebook account, which is what the impostor account uses.
The username of Prof Kibwana’s legitimate Facebook page is @governorkibwana, and the page itself has a verified checkmark. Its display image is a photograph of the governor wearing a black hoodie and a pair of cream chino pants while the cover image is an infographic listing his development priorities for Makueni during his second term in office. Under the ‘About’ tab there is a link to the county government of Makueni’s website. The page has over 138, 000 followers and Facebook page transparency information shows that it was created on October 14, 2014.
On the other hand, the username of the impostor Facebook account is ‘GOVERNOR MAKUENI COUNTY’, its display image is a photo of Prof Kibwana wearing a checked shirt and the cover image is a group photo of the governor and his counterparts from other counties. Because it is not a public figure page, the account has no Facebook page transparency information.
Verdict
On November 3, 2020, Prof Kibwana posted a screenshot of the Facebook account in question and warned members of the public to be aware of such fakes.
PesaCheck has looked into a Facebook account using the name and images of Makueni County Governor Kivutha Kibwana and finds it to be FALSE.
This story was produced by PesaCheck in partnership with Code for Africa’s iLAB data journalism programme, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.
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