The original newspaper cover features a different headline.
This Taifa Leo cover dated 12 December 2023 with the headline “Aisha Aisha” is ALTERED.
The newspaper cover features a photo of Aisha Jumwa, the former Cabinet Secretary for Gender, Culture, The Arts and Heritage.
Above the headline is a sentence reading, “Ni kinaya kwamba miaka 60 tangu Kenya itawazwe kuwa nchi huru bado inazongwa na matatizo mengi ya kimsingi (It is ironic that 60 years since Kenya was crowned as an independent country, it is still beset by many fundamental problems).”
The newspaper cover went viral on 12 July 2024, a day after President William Ruto dismissed most of his cabinet members.
PesaCheck performed a keyword search on Google and came across the original 12 December 2023 Taifa Leo cover. The authentic cover had a different headline and photo. The headline on the legitimate cover reads, “Jamhuri Kavu”.
There is a subheading reading, “Changamoto: Njaa, ukosefu wa elimu kwa wote, gharama ya juu ya matibabu na ukosefu wa ajira bado ni matatizo yanayohangaisha idadi kubwa ya Wakenya [Challenges: Hunger, lack of education for all, high medical costs and unemployment are still problems that concern a large number of Kenyans]”.
However, aside from the headline, subheading, and main photo, all other short stories at the top and bottom are identical in both the authentic and edited newspaper covers. Additionally, the sentence above the main headline appears on both versions.
PesaCheck also contacted Taifa Leo Digital Editor Fatuma Bariki, who confirmed in a WhatsApp message that the cover in question is “fake.”
Taifa Leo also flagged the newspaper cover in question as fake on their official social media page.
Following President Ruto’s decision to dismiss his cabinet, four additional fake Taifa Leo covers targeting former Tourism and Wildlife CS Alfred Mutua, former Youth Affairs, Sports and the Arts CS Ababu Namwamba, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, and economic adviser David Ndii were shared online. However, the publication disowned them here and here.
PesaCheck has looked into a Taifa Leo Newspaper cover dated 12 December 2023 with the headline “Aisha Aisha” and found it to be ALTERED.
This post was first published on the PesaCheck website. It is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. They do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
