By Evans Isohe.

The project claims to offer motorcycles for free to Kenyan youths but according to the research done by Mtaani radio newsroom it does not appear to be true.

A Facebook post advertising a project offering free motorbikes sponsored by Deputy President William Ruto is fake.

Photo of youths receiving motorbikes; photo courtesy

The post, published from a Facebook account named ‘Office of William Samoei Ruto’, contains images of DP Ruto who appears to be handing over motorbikes to youth. The text on the post indicates that the Deputy President awarded motorbikes to 30 youth from Embakasi East Constituency in Nairobi, and says a total of 20,000 youth will be reached through the same project.

Applicants are invited to reach out to the administrator named Elijah whose phone number is indicated on the post.

According to research done by Mtaani radio newsroom the phone number also features on another page impersonating the Deputy President’s wife, Ms Rachel Ruto, which we  debunked. That account, named ‘Recho Ruto’, also advertised youth empowerment projects, including one posted on June 17, bearing images of Mrs Ruto with motorbikes.

Similarly, the project supposedly sponsored by Ms Rachel Ruto, also targets 20,000 youth, and interested individuals are again advised to contact Elijah, who is identified as the project secretary. The contact details given on the imposter account match those given by the fake ‘Office of William Samoei Ruto’ page.

The Office of the Deputy President told journalist in a phone interview that the alleged motorbikes project is not run by them, adding that all social media accounts belonging to Mr Ruto are verified.

The Deputy President’s official Facebook page is named ‘William Samoei Ruto’ and does not contain information about the alleged motorbikes project.

Facebook Page Transparency shows DP Ruto’s official page was created on July 20, 2011, while the impersonating account was created on January 2, 2020.

Mtaani radio newsroom has looked into a Facebook post claiming to advertise a project giving out motorbikes and sponsored by Deputy President William Ruto and finds it to be false.

This story was produced by Evans Isohe at Mtaani newsroom in partnership with Code for Africa’s iLAB data journalism programme, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie’.’