A widely shared tweet stating that Jacque Maribe, a former Citizen TV presenter, has been appointed Director of Communications at the Deputy President’s office, is false.
The tweet shared on 26th September 2022, says: “Jacque Maribe has been appointed as the Director of Communication at the office of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. She is mandated to control what goes to the public & organising press addresses.”
BusinessToday reviewed the tweet and found it to be false. The social media page of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and State House have no such information.
Mr Wanjohi Githae, the Communications Director of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Party, to which the deputy president belongs, said through a phone interview that the information was false and that the communications director in the deputy president’s office is yet to be appointed.
Meanwhile, Jacque Maribe has also disowned the information, stating that she has not been appointed as communications director at the deputy president’s office. Ms Maribe responded to the reports by saying: “I am not the Director of Communications at the Deputy President’s Office. Thank you all for the well wishes, calls and text messages.”
The Twitter user who shared the claim later recanted the information. “Jacque Maribe now says she is not the Director of Communications at the Deputy President’s office, even after earlier acknowledging the same through her social media posts,” read the tweet.
A keyword search reveals wide coverage of Ms Maribe denying being appointed to the position.
Ms Maribe worked with Safina Party presidential aspirant Jimi Wanjigi’s secretariat. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), however, failed to clear Wanjigi for not meeting the set electoral requirements.
Before that, Ms Maribe hosted a political show on her YouTube channel. The media personality was a news anchor on Citizen TV, but her career was jolted after being embroiled in a murder case.
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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