Has Oparanya’s Endorsed Malala in the Kakamega Election?

On Monday, Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya appeared to endorse Cleophas Malala’s candidacy in the Kakamega race by posting a photo of the latter with the hashtag #VoteCleophasWakunguMalalah on his Facebook page.

The mini-elections for Kakamega began Monday morning after a few false starts due to errors on the election materials cited by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

The endorsement was unusual because the two are affiliated with opposing factions, with Oparanya supporting the Azimio la Umoja coalition and Malala supporting the Kenya Kwanza coalition.

Could the situation described as having snowballs in hell be true? Could there have been an error while writing the post? Or has the account been compromised?

ODM Director of Communication Philip Etale flagged the post shortly after it appeared on Oparanya’s account, confirming that the legislator’s account had been hacked.

He also urged the general public to ignore the post or anything else posted on the account that contradicted Oparanya’s beliefs.

“Wycliffe Ambeta Oparanya has reported to me that his Facebook Account has been hacked. He, therefore, appeals to residents of Kakamega County, the ODM fraternity and the general public to ignore anything that is posted on the account that is contrary to his belief,” Etale wrote on Facebook.

Following that, Oparanya responded on Twitter, claiming that his account had been compromised by “agents of doom,” and urging the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to take action.

“This is to notify the general public that my Facebook page has been hacked by agents of doom. IGNORE any post on my Facebook page as we await DCI to handle the matter and restore it,” he wrote.