The U.S. Embassy in Kenya denied claims that four Kenyan lawmakers, including Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, had their visas canceled by President Joe Biden‘s administration.
This comes after rumors spread on the internet that U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had sanctioned Gachagua, Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria, Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro, and his Kikuyu counterpart Kimani Ichungwa.
Violence against opposition supporters and private property belonging to former President Uhuru Kenyatta and Azimio head Raila Odinga was allegedly organized and sponsored by the four, according to a statement released on Monday, March 27, 2023.
A portion of the unproven claim says, “These visa revocations illustrate that the United States would support responsibility not only for regime leaders, but also for those who enable the regime’s assaults on democracy and human rights.”
There has been extensive social media dissemination of the announcement.
“I can confirm that the report doing rounds is fake as there has been no such communication from the United States Government,” Veveiros said.
Others related the fake news to a putative investigation by the International Criminal Court situated in The Hague, which was also tweeted about by another user of social media.
The Kenya Times reached out to the US Embassy to get their take on the message doing the rounds on social media and spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Andrew Veveiros, said it was fake and that Kenyans should disregard it.
No such contact has been made by the United States government, so the report going the rounds is false, Veveiros stated.