A tweet reply sharing a statement allegedly from the US Embassy in Nairobi congratulating presidential candidate Raila Odinga on his ‘win’ in the 9 August 2022 Kenyan general elections is FAKE.
The statement, which was shared as a reply to a legitimate tweet on 11 August 2022, is a screenshot of a post supposedly from a verified US Embassy account.
According to the post, the United States of America, including President Joe Biden, congratulated Odinga on his election as Kenya’s fifth president. The statement further commends Kenya’s dedication to a peaceful, free, fair and transparent contest and promises to continue to partner with the East African country.
However, the post neither appears on the US Embassy’s Facebook page nor Twitter account.
The embassy, through spokesperson Andrew Veveiros, has also dismissed the statement through an email.
“The referenced “statement” was not issued by the United States Embassy. Embassy statements are always available to the public through https://ke.usembassy.gov/.”
Besides, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), the body mandated to conduct the elections and release official election results, had not declared the president-elect.
