FALSE: Rachel Ruto Has No Connection With The Inua Jamii Fund
Written by Evance Adede on November 14, 2022
Facebook posts circulating on different unverified Facebook pages and accounts bearing the name of First Lady Rachel Ruto that connect her to the issuance of Inua Jamii loans are FAKE.
A Facebook group with the name ‘Inua jamii by Mama Rachel Chebet Ruto’ currently hosting over ten thousand members and claiming to be operated by the Kenyan First Lady Mama Rachel Ruto has on a number of occasions shared some fishy posts. The Facebook group administrator claims there are funds known as inua jamii funds up for grabs from the first lady.
One of the posts for example reads as follows: ‘’Hello Kenyans, if you have not received your Inua Jamii Loan, visit offices of District Office for Application. Inbox for more information.’’ Another post urges those interested in the loans to inbox the first lady.
A screenshot of claims on Facebook linking the First Lady Mama Rachel Ruto with the issuance of Inua Jamii Fund
However, given the kind of interest these posts seem to get from Facebook users, we decided to dig deeper into the issue and discovered that none of the pages and accounts mentioned above belong to the first lady and this renders them fake. Our search led us to Mama Rachel Ruto’s verified Facebook page which does not have any information about the Inua Jamii funds.
A screenshot of First Lady Mama Rachel Ruto’s verified Facebook page.
However, there is a fund bearing the name ‘’INUA JAMII’’ Which is a social protection fund from the national government.
These funds are however not given in form of loans as the numerous Facebook posts have claimed. According to the 13-page government document on the fund, they are monthly cash transfers between the amount of Ksh 2,000 to Ksh 5,400 to vulnerable households including the elderly, orphans, persons with severe disabilities etc.
The document also goes ahead to specify that the funds are managed from the national level under the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection (MLSP) and the Ministry of Devolution and ASAL (MoDA). It mainly works through the staff of local County and Sub-County offices and a network of Beneficiary Welfare Committees (BWCs) in each location. Additional support is provided by the local administration, including Chiefs, Assistant Chiefs and community members.
A screenshot of an article explaining how Inua Jamii funds are given/issued.
This confirms that the office of the first lady has absolutely nothing to do with the fund and the fund is never in loans hence the posts are not true and have been misleading the public.
In a 2021 Facebook post Inua Jamii Kenya stated that they do not offer loans and went further to warn the public not to be conned.
A screenshot of Inua Jamii’s post rebuking claims that they give loans.
We, therefore, consider the posts going round connecting the first lady Mama Rachel Ruto to the issuance of Inua Jamii Funds as misleading and not true.
This fact check was published by Sky FM with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck and African Fact-Checking Alliance.
