DEBUNKED: Digital Card Quoting Jeremiah Kioni Commenting On Election Rigging Fabricated 

A digital card with a quote attributed to Jubilee Party Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni on the use of bulbs that spread darkness during elections is fake.

In the digital card containing the branding of the Tuko news site, the Jubilee SG, who lost the Ndaragwa parliamentary seat in the 9th August 2022 general elections, is quoted saying there was widespread rigging in the constituency.

“I have to admit that William Ruto’s vote-rigging scheme is probably from the 22nd century. In my own constituency Ndaragwa, my UDA competitor had imported special bulbs from Bangkok. The bulb knobs and lamps spread darkness instead of light,” the quote states in part.

“At midday, all polling stations in Ndaragwa were totally dark. I did not win any single polling station. We confiscated some of the bulbs for evidence in court only to realize that they melt into water within seven hours of their first use,” it adds

At the time of going to press, the tweet containing the digital card had attracted 29 retweets and over 100 likes.

BusinessToday has reviewed the digital card and found it to be fake. We contacted Tuko’s management, who dismissed the digital card as fake. “It’s not our digital card. It’s the work of propagandists,” said Tuko Managing Director Gibendi Ramenya. “We have branded it fake.”

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While Kioni, the Jubilee Secretary General, on 24th August detailed ways the party believes were used to manipulate the outcome of elections in the Mt Kenya region, he did not mention the use of bulbs that spread darkness.

Addressing the press at Jubilee Party Headquarters in Nairobi, Kioni said Jubilee Party agents and those of Azimio leader Raila Odinga were denied access to polling stations. Mr Kioni claimed that they were chased for not having identification letters bearing the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) stamp.

Mr Kioni, reached by phone, dismissed the quote as “rubbish and nonsense.” An online search for the quote returned a fact-check done on the digital card. Scientifically, darkness-emitting bulbs are still a work in progress.

George Gachagwa defeated Kioni in the Ndaragwa MP polls, clinching the seat on a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party ticket.

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

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