This video of the current Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja criticising the Bottom-up economic model is old.
The video was shared on the popular social media platform TikTok, without giving it context by indicating the time when Sakaja spoke.
“Don’t be fooled, the bottom-up economic model is a fallacy. Those in the informal sector in Kenya are 20 million. If you give them Ksh100,000 each that’s Ksh2 trillion. Where does it come from a budget of Ksh3 trillion? It’s a lie… Do not lie to people that when you are elected, you’ll give them free money. We do not want free money,” Sakaja said in the video.
A Google reverse image search on a screenshot from the video shows it was posted on Facebook by the Nation in August 2021 when Sakaja was Nairobi Senator.
The Bottom-up economic model has been President William Ruto’s rallying call since he declared interest in vying for the Presidency, which he has maintained even after being elected the President through the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party.
In April 2022, months before the General elections, Sakaja, who was then the Senator for Nairobi, officially joined Ruto’s UDA party.
He vied for the Nairobi gubernatorial seat on a UDA ticket, whose rallying call was the Bottom-up economic model. He later won the seat and has remained a member of the ruling party to date.
The video was posted on October 11, 2023, without indicating it was an old video.
The video was shared with the caption, “Governor Sakaja saying Ruto’s Bottom Up is a lie”.
The video, though authentic, is missing context.
This fact check was published by Business Today with technical support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck newsdesk, through the African Fact-Checking Alliance (AFCA).
