A Daily Nation cover dated 18 September 2026, bearing the headline "Sifuna's Rallies of Death" and photos of 11 people who died during different political rallies in Kenya, has been found to be altered. PesaCheck, a fact-checking initiative, conducted a spot check of the Daily Nation e-paper database and discovered that the authentic 18 September 2026 edition had a different headline. The original cover highlighted deaths at various political rallies since February 2026.
The authentic Daily Nation cover had the headline "Rallies of Death" and featured the same 11 photos and names of those who succumbed to violence during political rallies. Eight people died at Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna's Linda Mwananchi Rallies, two died at Deputy President Kithure Kindiki's rally in Nembure, Embu County, and one person lost their life in a scuffle between rival groups in Milimani, Kisumu. These incidents involved clashes, shootings, mob attacks, or related unrest.
The altered cover shares several identical elements with the authentic one, including similar short stories and the tagline "Decision2027" above the main headline. Both covers have the same issue number, "22350". One of the stories on the covers reports on seven events planned to mark the first anniversary of the late Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga, and another alleges President William Ruto made a deal with former President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is now allegedly sabotaging him.
PesaCheck reached out to Dann Mwangi, the acting managing editor, broadcast and new media at Nation Media Group (NMG), who confirmed that the cover under investigation "is not legit". Daily Nation also flagged the newspaper cover as fake on their social media pages. This fact-check is part of an ongoing series by PesaCheck examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
PesaCheck is East Africa's first public finance fact-checking initiative, co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and incubated by Code for Africa. The initiative aims to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about numbers that shape the world, with a focus on public finances and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services.
The fact-check was written by PesaCheck fact-checker Naomi Wanjiku and edited by PesaCheck senior copy editor Mary Mutisya and chief copy editor Stephen Ndegwa. The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck managing editor Doreen Wainainah. PesaCheck's methodology for fact-checking involves partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms to sort fact from fiction.
The verification process revealed that the altered Daily Nation cover was created to mislead the public, highlighting the importance of fact-checking in today's digital age. PesaCheck's work is supported by Deutsche Welle Akademie and a coalition of local African media and civic watchdog organisations.
Key points
- The altered Daily Nation cover with the headline "Sifuna's Rallies of Death" was found to be fake, according to PesaCheck.
- The authentic Daily Nation cover had a different headline, "Rallies of Death", and highlighted deaths at various political rallies since February 2026.
- PesaCheck's fact-checking initiative aims to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about numbers that shape the world.
