The US Embassy in Kenya has dismissed a statement shared on social media claiming that the visas of some government officials have been revoked over the violence witnessed during opposition protests on Monday.
The statement which was purported to be released by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) named Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria and MPs Kimani Ichungwah and Ndindi Nyoro as the government officials whose visas had been withdrawn.
The statement claimed that the four planned and sponsored violence targeted at opposition supporters and private properties owned by former President Uhuru Kenyatta and Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition leader Raila Odinga.
“Their actions were meant to silence dissent; limit freedom of speech and the press, degrade the rule of law, perpetuate violent conflicts, undermine economic markets, and genesarally undermine democracy in Kenya,” part of the fake statement read.
“These visa revocations demonstrate that the United States will promote accountability not only for regime leaders, but also for officials who enable the regime’s assaults on democracy and human rights,” it added.
But Andrew Veveiros, the spokesperson for the US Embassy in Nairobi, termed the statement as fake, saying, there has been no such communication from the United States government.
“I can confirm that the report doing rounds is fake as there has been no such communication from the United States Government,” Veveiros told Citizen Digital.
Odinga blamed Gachagua for the invasion of the Kenyatta family-owned expansive farm in Ruiru, Kiambu County and his East Africa Spectre Limited gas plant in Nairobi by goons.
