A Facebook post published on the Daily Star Facebook page claimed to show results of a political poll for the Uasin Gishu gubernatorial race ahead of the 2022 general elections. This, the post claimed, was from a poll conducted by the Trends and Insights For Africa (TIFA) research company.
The post alleged that Kenya’s High Commissioner to Pakistan, Julius Bitok, apparently emerged as the most preferred candidate with 31.83% of the vote.
Background
Ambassador Julius Bitok ran for the Uasin Gishu gubernatorial seat twice, in 2013 and 2017, and lost to Jackson Mandago both times. According to a report by The Star, Bitok has now confirmed that he will be contesting for the same gubernatorial seat in the 2022 elections. The Star also cited Soy MP Caleb Kositany, Nairobi County devolution executive Vesca Kangogo, politician Jonathan Bii and businessman Charles Kigen as Bitok’s competitors for the Uasin Gishu top seat.
Verification
There is no record of the political survey said to have been conducted by TIFA on their website or Twitter platforms. Piga Firimbi further contacted TIFA’s CEO Maggie Ireri, who confirmed that the poll was not conducted by them.
“I would like to confirm that TIFA has not conducted any survey on the gubernatorial elections in Uasin Gishu County,” said Maggie in an email to Piga Firimbi.
A similarly fabricated political poll said to have been conducted by IPSOS to apparently identify the most preferred Senatorial candidate in Machakos County was previously debunked by Piga Firimbi here.
Verdict
The post claiming that a TIFA survey showed Julius Bitok as the leading 2022 gubernatorial candidate in Uasin Gishu is FALSE.
This story was produced by Africa Uncensored in partnership with Code for Africa with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.
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