President Ruto appointed Joseph Kipchumba Lagat.
This post on X(formerly Twitter) claiming that Charlene Ruto has been appointed the chairperson of National Mining Corporation is ALTERED.
The post reads, “New chairperson, National Mining Corporation. I hear there are rare minerals worth 6 trillion hapo Mrima Hills, Kwale, discovered by Jacob Juma’s Cortec mining. Rare earths are vital in manufacturing nuclear batteries, high-power magnets, LED lighting and superconductors. ”
The post is accompanied by a screengrab of a gazette notice bearing the name ‘Charlene Chelangat Ruto’ who has purportedly been appointed as the chairperson of the National Mining Corporation with effect from 4 October 2024.
The National Mining Corporation is mandated to manage all mining investment activities in the country from mineral prospecting, exploration, and mining on behalf of the government.
But was Charlene Ruto appointed to the National Mining Corporation?
VERIFICATION
A keyword search for gazetted presidential appointments brings up the notice, establishing that the appointment was made but the name that appears on the original gazette notice is Joseph Kipchumba Lagat and not Charlene Ruto as purported by the screengrab under our scrutiny.
Screengrab from the legitimate gazette notice.
A further Google reverse search on the appointment led us to a post by the Principal Secretary for the State Department of Mining, Elijah Mwangi, who congratulated Mr. Lagat on his appointment.
The PS’s post reads, “Congratulations, Hon. Lagat, on this well-deserved appointment to steer the National Mining Corporation to greater heights.”
Additionally, the PS flagged the gazette notice bearing Charlene Ruto’s name as fake and shared the original gazette notice.
A closer look at the fake gazette notice also shows a glaring difference in font style in Charlene Ruto’s name compared to the original document bearing Joseph Kipchumba Lagat. This shows that the document was altered.
VERDICT
Lake Region Bulletin established the claim that the Gazette notice is altered and that the claim that President Ruto had appointed his daughter to the chairperson position is ALTERED
This fact-check was produced by Lake Region Bulletin, under the African Fact-Checking Incubator programme, with support from PesaCheck, Code for Africa’s fact-checking initiative, and the African Fact-Checking Alliance(AFCA).
