This poster (see above and below) is of a call out for funds to cushion Kenyans who have been affected by the current lockdown and has been circulating on WhatsApp.
This comes at a time when there have been a number of scams claiming that the Kenyan government is offering relief funds to its citizens. With such a notable number, there are chances of fake accounts cropping up.
We sought to establish the legitimacy of the said poster.
Background
With a positivity rate of 26.6%, Kenya is facing the third wave of the Coronavirus.
As a result, the Kenyan government re-introduced a lockdown in 5 counties to combat a surge in the rising cases. However, this directive from the president sparked a public outcry from Kenyans. Their main concern being that the lack of existing measures to cushion Kenyans against economic hardships that result from the partial lockdown.
There is also a possibility that this lockdown will affect the school calendar unless the current infection rate is contained.
Verification
We ran a search by focusing on keywords from this poster. The results led us to this Twitter account. The poster went up on the web on March 29, 2021. This initiative was set up to collect funds in support of queer and transgender Kenyans who are facing economic hardships resulting from the pandemic.
A link attached to this account shows a breakdown of funds received towards a fundraiser by the same account on April 10, 2020. These funds were collected to enable 4 queer organizers relocate to a safe house.
Verdict
The poster set up to collect funds to support Queer and Trans Kenyans is LEGITIMATE.
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