Purported front pages claiming to reveal probe into Kenyan Eurobond graft are fake

This article is more than one year old.
Published on December 6, 2023 at 15:58
4 min read
By James OKONG'O, AFP Kenya

Kenya’s sale of government bonds in 2014 was supposed to raise $2.75 billion (420 billion Kenya shillings) for infrastructure projects and to pay off loans. But more than a third of the proceeds from the Eurobond sale were allegedly unaccounted for, and according to some reports, appear to have disappeared. Recently, two alleged newspaper front pages surfaced online purporting to reveal that the United States was investigating a relative of former president Uhuru Kenyatta in connection with the scandal. But this is false; AFP Fact Check found that the front pages are fabricated. There have been no reports of such an investigation.

One of two front pages -- shared as a screenshot and purportedly published by the Financial Times, a leading UK newspaper -- was posted on the messaging app X (formerly Twitter) on November 30, 2023.

“US Federal Reserve opens investigation on Kenya’s 2014 $2.75 Billion Euro Bond (sic),” reads the headline of the purported front page article, which was shared on X by the chairman of the Kenya Airports Authority, Caleb Kositany.

The screenshot showing the false post, taken on December 4, 2023

The main image on the claimed front page is of Kenyatta. Kositany’s post has been reposted more than 170 times and his caption reads: “Hence the noise.”

Beneath the post is a community note, which is added by X when selected users identify a piece of content as misleading or lacking context. “Cited author says the story is fake,” reads the note, with a link to an X post by FT correspondent Demetri Sevastopulo.

Sevastopulo’s byline appears on the purported article dated November 28, 2023, alleging there was an illegal transfer of part of the funds generated from Eurobond sales to a bank account associated with a member of the Kenyatta family.

The screenshot was also shared elsewhere on X here and here.

A second purported front page, this time under the masthead of Kenya’s Star newspaper, includes a headline claiming that “Kenyatta kin received $117 million Euro Bond cash (sic).”

The accompanying “article” dated December 1-3, 2023 links a Kenyatta relative to the saga and was shared on Facebook in early December here and here.

Screenshot showing the false Star cover, taken on December 5, 2023

Debt burden

Kenya’s debt burden (archived here), compounded by a weakening local currency, has led to speculation that the country could default in paying its loans, including the decade-old Eurobond, which is set to mature in June 2024 (archived here).

In 2016, veteran politician Raila Odinga accused Kenyatta’s administration of misappropriating Eurobond funds, an allegation that was denied by the country’s central bank (archived here).

At the time, Odinga said the government could not account for nearly half of the money made from the bond issue, implying that the money was stolen by government officials through an elaborate international money laundering scheme (archived here).

Former Kenya auditor general Edward Ouko said in a report that the full amount raised from Eurobond proceeds was received by the country’s treasury, but could not establish how it was spent (archived here).

Since assuming office late last year, President William Ruto and his allies have been blaming Kenyatta’s administration, in which Ruto served as deputy leader, for Kenya’s deteriorating economy (archived here).

But the purported front pages were not published by the FT and Star.

Fake covers

FT told AFP Fact Check that it did not publish the story appearing in the viral screenshot.

“We have not published this story - it is not real,” said the UK-based newspaper.

Sevastopulo, the cited author in the story, denied writing the article, saying it was “a complete fake” (archived here).

This is a complete fake. I did not write any story about Kenya. Mr Kositany, I hope you are more careful about how you run your airports and you should be ashamed for spreading such #fakenews https://t.co/hDSLqgGoS6
— Demetri (@Dimi) December 1, 2023

The Star newspaper also denied publishing the purported story that appeared in the second screenshot circulating online.

“We did not publish the story linking former president Uhuru Kenyatta to the Eurobond scandal,” said the Kenyan newspaper in a response to AFP Fact Check.

The Star weekend editions often cover Saturdays and Sundays, not three days as the purported front page shared on Facebook indicates.

A search of mgazeti – a website that archives local Kenyan newspapers – found that the December 1 Star edition was manipulated (archived here).

The original main cover story reads: “Why Ruto allies reject Raila calls for referendum.”

A side-by-side comparison of the authentic Star cover (left) for Dec 1 and the manipulated version (right)

The main story on the Star edition for the weekend of December 2-3 read: “Revamp of ODM signals Raila 2027 State House race” (archived here).

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