A video of veteran journalist and Spice FM presenter Eric Latiff, fact-cheking former Nairobi deputy governor, Jonathan Mueke has gone viral on social media.
While appearing on Spice FM's breakfast show, dubbed the Situation Room, Mueke sensationally claimed the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC) Kenya had not met since the handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga in 2018 took place.
The aspiring Kitui Governor wildly claimed that "the meetings had not taken place since Deputy President William Ruto was sidelined from government functions".
“When the Deputy President was working, he used to chair an organization called IBEC together with the 47 governors…After the handshake, that committee has not met,” the former deputy governor stated, attracting the wrath of Latiff, one of the trio that host the show.
Latiff immediately stepped in and correct him, stating that the economic council has been meeting, with DP Ruto as the chair.
“That committee has met. It has met because it is the one that determines the revenue share. The last meeting which was held agreed on how much money was going to the counties in this budget,” the journalist boldly interrupted, much to the embarrassment of the politician.
“It was chaired by the Deputy President. He has chaired IBEC this year and he chaired IBEC last year,” he added.
The journalist went further to give evidence of a newspaper article in which one of the meetings had been reported.
“This was a story that was written in the Standard by Roselyne Obala this year on the 11th of February, and it was after the meeting of IBEC. There is a picture here of the Laikipia governor, the Deputy President and the Treasury CS after the meeting,” Latiff stated.
After the video was posted on social media, it immediately went viral as netizens congratulated the journalist for fact-checking the politician.
“This is exactly what we need for live debates. Not those sponsored interviews, where show hosts get wowed with fluent English as they nod their heads like Ice Cube," Gabriel Oguda, a social and political commentator, stated.
Oguda’s remarks set the ball rolling, with other social media users voicing their opinions, most of which were critical of the politician and his ilk. Journalist Dennis Onsarigo, a journalist, stated that there were many lies spread in the media.
“This country is littered with half-truths. This fellow nearly got away with a lie,” Onsarigo remarked, as if to mock Mueke.
National Assembly Minority Whip, Junet Mohamed joined the frey, and took a pointed dig at the Deputy President William Ruto's team, which Mueke recently joined.
"Let's have mercy on Mueke. He just left Wiper Party, where he never had to lie. In UDA, he has to lie. In six months he will be fine," Junet opined, rather sarcastically.
