An image on Twitter purporting to show Mathira member of parliament Rigathi Gachagua fighting is fake.
Posted online on 4th September 2021, the image along with text about the fight, went viral on social media and was shared by a number of Twitter users. The caption reads: “Rigathi Gachagua exchanging blows with Gikaria in Nanyuki. Meeting cut short.”
A Google reverse image search by Business Today Found that the image is a screen-grab of a video uploaded on Citizen TV’s YouTube channel on March 11th, 2015, when Nakuru members of the county assembly (MCAs) publicly exchanged fists.
The altercation followed an accusation of misappropriation of funds made by the then Visoi MCA Gitau Kamau against speaker Susan Kihika alleging that she was using County Assembly resources to fund county representatives allied to Nakuru majority leader Samuel Waithuki.
The dispute pitted a group supporting the ousted majority leader Mwaura Njenga and the other supporting then reigning majority leader, Njane Waithuki, who had taken over after the house passed a motion of no confidence in Njenga.
Also, a Google search of the MP fighting yields no such content.
VERDICT: The image shared on Twitter purporting to show Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua fighting is from a scene of fracas at Nakuru County Assembly in March 2015 and is thus misleading.
[This story was produced by Business Today in partnership with Code for Africa’s iLAB data journalism programme, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie ]
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