This graphic on Facebook with claims of fertiliser theft in Kenya is FAKE.

The illustration has the logo of NTV Kenya, a local broadcaster, and its news updates subscription number.

An image of Senator Kamau Murango of Kirinyaga County is attached to the post. A reverse image search shows that the image was taken on 14 April 2023 at Parliament Buildings, Nairobi. Murango is the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Livestock.

The Facebook post accuses members of the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party of stealing fertiliser meant to benefit farmers.

The text does not indicate when the purported bags of subsidised fertiliser were found missing. An internet search yielded no credible reports on the fertiliser, or its supposed recovery.

Although the card has the NTV Kenya branding, it is not shared on either the broadcaster’s Facebook page, Twitter account, or website, where all its news items are posted.

The broadcaster disowned the graphic via a Facebook post, terming it fake.

PesaCheck has examined a graphic with claims of fertiliser theft in Kenya, and found it to be FAKE.

This post 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. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.

Have you spotted what you think is fake or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.

This fact-check was written by PesaCheck senior fact-checker Simon Muli and edited by PesaCheck senior copy editor Cédrick Irakoze and acting chief copy editor Francis Mwaniki.

The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck managing editor Doreen Wainainah.

PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.

PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organisations.