HOAX: Kenyan gov’t ‘erects Duterte statue’

Claim: The government of Kenya “erected” a statue of President Rodrigo Duterte during the launch of an anti-drug campaign in the African country.

Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta reportedly said, “Today I am launching this monument, it will be an encouragement to me, I will be looking at it and direct my focus on this drug barons the way Duterte did, I will win this war.”

The Kenyan government reportedly built the monument in recognition of Duterte’s “tough stand against drug trafficking.”

The claim was posted on afrikan-daily.com and kenya-times.com on December 12. The first website has had more engagement on Facebook, as it was shared to a pro-Duterte page and a pro-Marcos group. Combined, the two articles have a total of at least 1,000 interactions and 75,800 followers.

Facebook page “CNN-KENYA Connecting Networks Nationally” also shared the kenya-times.com article on the same date. It has had minimal social media engagement.

This claim was sent by a reader to Rappler for verification.

Rating: FALSE

The facts: Kenyatta did not make a statement that he would have a Duterte monument erected.

There are no other news articles showing that Kenyatta issued such statements.

The photo used in the claim features the statue of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos located in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte. It was grabbed from an article by the Philippine Daily Inquirer in November 2016.

As for the launch of the anti-drug campaign where Kenyatta supposedly made the statement, there are no additional details included in the article about where the said event was held.

An international conference on drug demand reduction organized by the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada) is happening in Kenya from December 10 to 14. However, President Kenyatta is not among the keynote speakers in the event.

Kenyatta recently made a speech during their Jamhuri Day celebration on December 12, but there was no mention of Duterte nor the statue. Also, a search for the term “Duterte” on the Kenya presidency’s official website does not yield any result.

In May, Rappler rated as a hoax a related claim involving Kenyatta, where he supposedly praised Duterte as “the strongest man in the world” during a summit. – Gethsemani Cindy Gorospe/Rappler.com

Gethsemani Cindy Gorospe is a Rappler intern.

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