FACT CHECK: Video linking Irungu Kang’ata to Sabina Joy was doctored

By , K24 Digital
On Wed, 15 Sep, 2021 19:12 | 2 mins read
Irungu Kangata
Murangá Senator Irungu Kangáta. PHOTO/Courtesy

A video that has gone viral on social media and news sites, where a voice is heard suggesting to Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka that Murang'a senator Irungu Kang'ata was attempting to address the house from Sabina Joy pub is fake, K24 Digital has established.

We can authoritatively report that the voiceover was embedded in the original clip by an unknown internet user and shared widely on various social media posts.

In the video, Irungu Kang'ata is heard trying to address the senate virtually from an undisclosed location. The speaker proceeds to dismiss his submission claiming that he was obligated to make an address from an appropriate location.

The embedded voice is then heard suggesting that the lawmaker is at a bar along Thika road before further alleging that the former Majority Whip was at the infamous Sabina Joy pub.

However, in an original clip in our possession, Kang'ata actually joined the session virtually and was instructed by the speaker to ensure he gets to an appropriate location before proceeding with his submission, but the voiceover is now not heard.

Kang'ata who later made a physical reading, asks Lusaka for a 5 minute window so that he makes his way to the house.

After the doctored video went round social media and hit newsrooms, the Ruto-allied lawmaker took to his social media to raise the first flag blaming his political opponents of engineering the move with an aim of tarnishing his name.

The senator, who addressed the plight of Murang'a milk farmers on the floor, affirmed that he was a teetotaler and that there was no chance that he was at the aforementioned entertainment joints

“Kieleweke bloggers- no single drop of alcohol has ever passed via my mouth. That voice insertion into my today’s senate contribution is fake and false. The true question that I asked in Senate was about Murang’a farmers’ unpaid milk delivered to county factory,” he posted.

On Wednesday, during a Senate session, Kang'ata gave a blow by blow account on how he logged in to address the house accusing media of falling on the trap of 'fake news.

“When I tried to log in externally, there was a small technical problem and therefore I decided to come to the chamber and make that request orally on the floor of the house,” he said.

But later on, he narrated, that it appears somebody manipulated Tuesday's Senate proceedings and gave inserted a false voiceover that purported that he was seated at a certain bar.

“For the record, yours truly has never touched any drop of beer or any form of alcohol product since the time yours truly was born. Yours truly has never taken any cigarette. Yours truly has never taken any form of drugs since he was born,” he explained.