Did the National Intelligence Service Publish This Report Showing Ruto Had 61% Support?

A tweet by Miguna Miguna shared a purported National Intelligence Service (NIS) report showing William Ruto’s support apparently at 61%.

The tweet that was posted on July 30, 2022 is accompanied by a digital card that claims; “Deputy President William Ruto’s support increased to 61% from 54%”. The tweet, which has been retweeted over 1037 times, alludes to a Twitter poll he conducted on his Twitter page on July 10 which he said resonated with claims on the digital card.

Background

During an interview on May 31, 2022 at Citizen TV, P.S. Karanja Kibicho, the Principal Secretary of the State Department of Interior & Citizen Services claimed that intelligence data indicated that presidential candidate Raila Odinga will win the August 9, election with a 60% margin.

Deputy President William Ruto rubbished the claims and said that he was more privy to intelligence reports and that the NIS report showed his coalition Kenya Kwanza was ahead of their competitors with 8%. However, neither Kibicho nor Ruto provided verifiable sources.

P.S. Kibicho did not give further clarifications on the source of this data or if such a report was available for review. Piga Firimbi was unable to reach him for clarification.

Verification

The digital card he shared indicates at the bottom that the source of the information is: NIS report July 27. However, Piga Firimbi did not find such a report on the NIS website or anywhere else online. A reverse image search of the digital card reveals similar marketing templates here that could have been used to make the card.

Piga Firimbi’s attempts to reach NIS as well as Miguna Miguna for comment on the claim went unanswered.

Verdict

The claim in the card is unfounded and thus misleading.

Such claims that are prevalent online may be cause for discontent in the results of the general elections while also fostering misinformation around the elections. 

This fact-check was produced by Africa Uncensored with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck, African Fact Checking Alliance network and the United Nations Development Programme.