MISLEADING: There Is No Evidence That President Museveni Deployed The Special Force Command In Kenya To Save Ruto’s Regime From Collapse
The Uganda People’s Defence Force dismissed the claims made by The Kampala Journal.
The Claim
A tweet purporting Uganda’s involvement in the recent Kenyan riots led by Gen Z against the previously introduced finance bill and the government is inaccurate
Analysis
The tweet from The Kampala Journal X account claimed that Uganda’s President who also acts as chief commander of the Ugandan security forces had authorised the deployment of the Special Forces Command into Kenya to save President Ruto’s regime. And that a member of the SFC, Sgt Walter Ojok is pictured shooting at unarmed protesters.
“EXPOSED: Sgt. Walter Ojok, an SFC commando attached to the Kajjansi detachment in Wakiso District is seen opening fire at peaceful protesters in Kenya where President Museveni has deployed non-uniformed troops to save Ruto’s regime from collapsing to Gen Z demos. #KJNews” the post read.
Unfortunately, the post was retweeted 7.2k times, liked by 11k 746 people commented and the tweet reached 902K people and 599 bookmarked it as of 7:08 pm on 5th July 2024, which is a huge magnitude of internet users consuming and many believing the false information.
The evidence.
A reverse image search has always been one of our go-to in fact-checking and this time too, we performed one, and the results we see are linked to different accounts. We established that the image purportedly of Sgt Walter Ojok was first published on 2nd July 2024 by a Kenyan Photographer on X, and his tweet read,
“As a photojournalist, I’ve never felt as fearful for my life as I did today. Confronted by an undercover policeman aiming a gun directly at me while I documented him firing live bullets at protestors, my life flashed before my eyes. #RutoMustGo #OccupyCBD.”
The image was later republished by the Kampala Journal on the 3rd and retweeted by The Dictator watch on the 4th, all activity seen on X formerly Twitter
And many others as seen here, here, here, and on other platforms like Tiktok
It is crucial to note that the person/group behind the Kampala Journal News account has a track record of spreading false information and inciting online violence as seen here, here.
We went ahead and investigated the circumstances under which Uganda’s SFC would be deployed to cease uprisings in other countries. In a phone call Interview, Afande Felix Kulayige told Debunk Media Initiative.
“None, Kenya is an independent country that can deal with her challenges on her own, We have no reason for deploying in another country that can handle her personal security issues” he added.
Kulayige also stressed that Uganda has armed special forces for the security of its people and does not interfere in other country’s matters.
A normal search about Walter Ojok is a wild goose chase and therefore, we did an advanced Google search on the same name and its attachment to the SFC, or perhaps an SFC list of names to which we can authenticate “Ojok’s” name, and that too couldn’t be found online.
What is true is that the Special Forces Command has different units in different parts of the country with its headquarters stationed in Entebbe, located in the Wakiso district, of which Kajjansi is a part.
It is also worth noting that the different stations of the SFC are not listed on their website and therefore not available to the public. Our research finds that this is a strategic and deliberate security move by the Uganda People’s Defense Force to not avail this information.
The UPDF to which the SFC falls has deployed its army in another country for peacekeeping operations, as seen in South Sudan and Somalia. These operations are officially published on their website and other media as here here and here. However, there are no media reports from any credible media platforms about Uganda sending any troops to Kenya, or any updates on that matter as seen in the case of Somalia and South Sudan.
Credibility of this source.
The credibility of KJNews falls short on numerous grounds, one being quick to publish without verification of the facts and by this, doing a disservice to the audience as seen in a recent story about famous radio host, DJ, and party host Etania being sacked from NRG Radio, a story that the Kampala based radio station debunked days later.
Kampala Journal is also a sensational online tabloid based on its content, one can tell that it is anti-government and the admins use the platform to spread political propaganda against the ruling government and for the National Unity platform.
Based on the kind of content the platform publishes, it is correct to conclude that it is an opposition-leaning media whose content is mostly about the happenings in the arena of the National Unity Platform as seen here.
For a news site, KJNews has no proper website for readers to collaborate on their X stories as it is with other news platforms with X accounts in Uganda, and this is a red flag enough to further question its credibility. For instance New Vision x account (website), Daily Monitor x account (website), and Chimp Reports (website), however, when we did an online search to find a website where the platform( KJNews) publishes her work, we could locate one as of 8:08 PM OF 5TH July 2024.
Adding to the journal’s track record of spreading false information, on the 25th of June 2024 a post was made by the Kampala journal claiming Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni had sent 40 truckloads of UPDF to quash the anti-tax protests in neighbouring Kenya. This piece of information was found to be untrue and misleading as seen in a fact-check by Africa-Check and other fact-checking platforms from around the word
Verdict.
Misleading: The claims that the man in the picture is a commando from the Special Force Command are not verified, there is no evidence backing the claims and the president of Uganda did not send Uganda’s SFC to rescue President Ruto from the riots in his country. The perpetrator of the claims above ( The Kampala Journal) has a history of spreading disinformation and using propaganda as a tool in the politics of East Africa especially Uganda. They are also not a credible news agency that should be trusted and therefore disregard the claims of Uganda’s involvement in Kenyan politics and treat all information from The Kampala Journal with a fair dose of skepticism and scrutiny.