By Victor Mboya
Johnson Sakaja is running to be Nairobi’s next governor under the United Democratic Alliance party.
He was cleared to run on 19 June 2022 by Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, after a vetting process in which his academic credentials came under scrutiny. Kenyans go to the polls on 9 August 2022.
Sakaja, who most recently served as Nairobi’s senator, says he studied at Team University, an institution of higher learning in Kampala, Uganda.
Amid the debate over university degrees, a poster circulated on social media with pictures of nine persons who apparently sit on the council of Team University. Is the poster genuine?
False Identities
Several red flags are immediately clear. The poster misspells the name Tarsis Kabwegyere, instead writing “Tasis Kabwegire”. A 2016 report from the Ugandan state-owned New Vision newspaper refers to him as the chancellor of the university although a Google search of the University’s website came up empty.
The poster also misspells the name of the vice-chancellor’s second name as “Lutalobosa” instead of the correct Lutalo-Bosa, which is a hyphenated form involving two names. The name has also been spelled as “Lutalo-Bbosa”.
We carried out reverse image searches on the faces in the poster to identify the individuals. At least four were matched with names that did not belong to them.
We found out that “the photo named Sadat Mayanja” is actually of Mr. Martin Mugisha, the Chief Credit Officer at PostBank Uganda. “Michael Mutuweta” is actually Tahinduka Brian, a senior manager at Standard Bank Group in Uganda.
“Reuben Nasakaja” is Joseph Fetaa, the head of Products & Channels at Orient Bank Uganda, in real life. The Bank has since rebranded to I&M Bank Uganda, where Mr. Fetaa retains the same role.
“Francis Katongole” is actually Albert Byaruhanga, a director at Absa Bank Uganda. A Google search for “Ayub Rukundo” came up empty, suggesting the name is made up.
With all the false identities and misspelled names, it is clear that this poster is fake.
