A Facebook post by Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala dated Wednesday, November 17, claiming that a poll indicated he was leading in the county’s gubernatorial race is false and misleading.
Malala, an Amani National Congress (ANC) politician, claimed that the poll was conducted by Mizani Africa, a modern Pan-African research firm.
“Numbers never lie. #Gvnr2022, #WakatiNiSasa,” Malala captioned a photo claiming to have been shared by Mizani.
The fake poll claimed that it was a comparative analysis of the most preferred gubernatorial candidates if elections were held on that day, Wednesday, November 17, 2021.
It pitted Malala against former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale and politician Fernandes Barasa. The target population was asked to choose their preferred Kakamega County Governor.
The post alleged that Malala led with 28 per cent, Khalwale and Barasa followed with 18 per cent and 15 per cent respectively. The rest of the percentage was split amongst six other politicians.
Malala further posted a photo of a second poll he claimed was conducted by the Star media.
The poll was reported to have been conducted on November 16, 2020. The survey allegedly done by the Star shared the same results with those Malala claimed were conducted by Mizani Africa.
As of Wednesday, November 17, Malala’s Facebook post had garnered 545 comments and 4 shares.
However, a spot check on the Star social media indicated that no such poll had been done by the media house.
The two photos claiming that the polls were done one year apart, ironically shared the same results for the top four candidates. They also had the same spelling mistakes such as 'gubanatorial' rather than gubernatorial and 'Khwalwale' instead of Khalwale.
A Google reverse image search of the search further indicated that it had never been shared anywhere else.
Mizani Africa further flagged the poll in a statement posted on its Facebook page on Wednesday, November 17.
“This is to bring to the public attention that we haven't released any data on Kakamega County. The data circulating around is FAKE and Mizani Africa condemns such acts in the strongest possible terms. Our data is always released to the public through Our Press Briefings.”
Mizani Africa’s latest survey was a report on statistical data presentation of political preferences of Mt Kenya, released in October 2021.
The report detailed that the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) was the most preferred political party among the electorates in the Mt Kenya region ahead of Jubilee and the United Democratic Alliance (UDA).
The posts and polls and photos shared by Senator Malala are therefore false and doctored to push a political narrative.
This fact-check was produced by Kenyans.co.ke's John Mbati in partnership with Code for Africa with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie
