FACT CHECK: Did Kenyan Deputy Presidential Candidate Rigathi Gachagua Make This Statement Encouraging Traditional Medicine?

Trevor SchakohlJune 16, 2022

A post shared on Facebook claims Kenyan deputy presidential candidate Rigathi Gachagua made a statement encouraging the use of “traditional doctors and medicine” in areas where there are no hospitals.

Verdict: False

There is no record of Gachagua making this statement. A Kenyan media outlets confirmed the alleged quote is misattributed.

Fact Check:

Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto, who is running for president in the county’s upcoming presidential election, recently selected Gachagua as his running mate, according to BBC News. A post shared on Facebook claims Gachagua recently made a statement in support of traditional medicine.

The post includes an image of the politician along with a quote attributed to him that reads, “We will empower traditional doctors and medicine men with training so that they can treat patients in areas where clinics are far and areas where there are no hospitals.”

In reality, none of his social media pages contain the aforementioned statement. There is likewise no mention of it on the website of Kenya’s parliament, where Gachagua currently serves as an MP. Check Your Fact could not locate a single credible news report online attributing the supposed remark to either Gachagua or Ruto.

Some iterations of the Facebook post attribute it to the Kenyan news outlet Kenyans.co.ke but the outlet denied it was the source of the alleged quote in a June 9 Facebook post. (RELATED: Did The Guardian Publish This Story About Michael Spencer Funding A Militia In The Congo?)

“This post did not emanate from our media house,” reads part of the post. “It does not conform to the in-house branding rules and did not go through the multiple approval checks set in place to prevent misreporting.”