The viral Facebook pages and Twitter handles using the name and picture of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) vice chairperson Juliana Cherera are fake.
The Facebook pages, in particular, came up on August 17, making comments on the recent presidential elections in which Ms Cherera, alongside three other commissioners disowned the final results that were announced by the IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati.
A day after their dissenting move, a Facebook page called Julian Cherera was opened. Later in the day, the page changed its name to Juliana Cherera, correcting the typo on the IEBC deputy chief’s name.
Another page was created on the same day, August 17, and was christened Commissioner Juliana Cherera.
The page, which indicates that the owner, Ms Cherera, is a government official, gained fast and has amassed over 25, 000 followers in under three days as it made posts and uploaded tens of photos of Ms Cherera and other IEBC officials.
“Dear Kenyans: Chebukati bungled the 2022 Presidential results. The joke will be nullified by the Supreme court!” the page wrote.
Besides attracting thousands of reactions to posts, the page has posted controversial statements that have seen followers become vile to one another.
The Standard Checkpoint reached out to Ms Cherera who clarified that she has no presence on social media and that all the Facebook and Twitter accounts are fake.
“I don’t have any social media account. Those accounts on Twitter and Facebook are fake as much as they bear my name and picture,” said Ms Cherera.
“I have reported to the relevant authorities. The briefing I gave in Serena (on Tuesday, August 16, 2022) is the last comment I’ve made on the August 2022 election.”
The fake page, on Friday morning, even promised a 4pm live press for “the big reveal” and attracted 108 comments in under one hour. The page has so far made over 36 posts.
Many of the comments on the several posts made by the fake page have led to a split opinion, with some directing bile at the page admin while others were to the defence.
“It seems you are ready to burn this country, you did your part, why not wait then give evidence in court and not on Facebook?” one Facebook user asked.
In another post, the page claims that the commissioner has received threats from deputy president-elect Rigathi Gachagua against testifying in court.
Twitter users are also being treated to fake accounts bearing Ms Cherera’s photo.
Julian Cherera, Julianna Cherera and Julliana Cherera are some of the fake Twitter accounts, with the latter running automated tweets and has been retweeting many posts related to IEBC and the elections.
Twitter allows automated accounts, often referred to as bots and perform programmed actions through the Twitter API.
The fake accounts have gained traction after Ms Cherera and three other commissioners—Francis Wanderi, Irene Masit and Justus Nyang’aya— differed with Mr Chebukati on the presidential votes tally that announced William Ruto as the winner.
On August 16, 2022, the four commissioners held a press conference in which they explained their reasons for disowning the outcome of the presidential results.
Looking at the timing of the creation of the accounts and their content and having sought comment from Ms Cherera, we flag the social media accounts as fake.