This archive report was first published on 3 September 2021.
On September 3, 2021, the People Daily newspaper, owned by the Kenyatta Family, published an erroneous story claiming President Uhuru Kenyatta rigged the 2017 General Election.
The story, which was evaluating ODM leader Raila Odinga's prospects of becoming the next President, made a mistake by indicating that President Kenyatta stole votes from Raila in the 2017 election.
However, the paper has now published an apology to the President and the ex-Premier, saying the mishap was only because the story was not subjected to the necessary editorial checks.
According to the apology, the newspaper published content suggesting that the 2017 election results were rigged due to production oversight which saw unverified content published.
“We published content suggesting that the 2017 election results were rigged. This was as a result of production oversight which saw unverified content published,” the statement read.
“We take this early opportunity to withdraw the said content and apologise to President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga for the embarrassment the text many have caused them,” the statement continued.
