{"id":9186,"date":"2018-03-20T20:06:59","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T02:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nigerianews.ca\/?post_type=news&p=9186"},"modified":"2018-03-20T20:06:59","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T02:06:59","slug":"kenyas-ruling-party-says-it-hired-cambridge-analytica-affiliate-for-branding","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/nigerianews.ca\/news\/kenyas-ruling-party-says-it-hired-cambridge-analytica-affiliate-for-branding\/","title":{"rendered":"REVELATION: Kenya’s ruling party hired Cambridge Analytica affiliate for ‘branding’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kenya\u2019s ruling jubilee party has admitted that it paid for \u2018branding\u2019 in the 2017 presidential election from SCL<\/span>, affiliate of consultancy Cambridge Analytica, which is at the centre of an election manipulation scandal involving Facebook.<\/p>\n

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Best known for helping Donald Trump\u2019s U.S. presidential bid in 2016, the London-based consultancy also ran the campaigns of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta in the 2013 and 2017 elections, according to video secretly recorded and broadcast by Britain\u2019s Channel 4 News on Monday.<\/p>\n

In the video, Mark Turnbull, a managing director for Cambridge Analytica and sister company SCL<\/span> Elections, told Channel 4\u2019s undercover investigative reporting team that his firm secretly stage-managed Kenyatta\u2019s hotly contested campaigns to run the East African nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have rebranded the entire party twice, written the manifesto, done research, analysis, messaging. I think we wrote all the speeches and we staged the whole thing \u2013 so just about every element of this candidate,\u201d Turnbull said of his firm\u2019s work for Kenyatta\u2019s political party, known as the National Alliance until 2016, and subsequently as the Jubilee Party.<\/p>\n

Kenya\u2019s politicians respond<\/strong><\/p>\n

Commenting on the role that SCL<\/span> in last year\u2019s ethnically divisive election in which about 100 people were killed, Jubilee vice-chairman David Murathe said:<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were basically branding and all that but not directly.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the first public comment by a senior official of Kenya\u2019s ruling party on SCL\u2019s involvement in the election.<\/p>\n

Murathe did not elaborate on the precise nature of the work done by SCL<\/span> or Cambridge Analytica in Kenya.<\/p>\n

Kenyatta came to power in 2013 and won a second and final term last August, defeating opposition leader Raila Odinga by 1.4 million votes. The Supreme Court nullified the vote citing procedural irregularities and ordered a second election that Kenyatta also won.<\/p>\n

Kenya\u2019s opposition reacted angrily to the reports of Cambridge Analytica\u2019s involvement in the Kenyan elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe same propaganda that they used in Trump\u2019s election is what has been used in Kenya. Cambridge Analytica is now becoming an international propagandist,\u201d said Junet Mohamed, a lawmaker for Odinga\u2019s ODM<\/span> party and its director of elections.<\/p>\n

However, Jubilee senator Kipchumba Murkomen denied any influence on the election, saying that social media were of only marginal influence in Kenya despite its reputation as one of Africa\u2019s most tech-savvy nations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose things don\u2019t influence elections in Kenya,\u201d he said. \u201cKenya is not America. In Kenya, vernacular radio stations are more influential than those things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scandal tainted Cambridge Analytica<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cambridge Analytica denied all allegations made by Channel 4 News, saying it was humouring the undercover reporters and trying to gauge their motives by actively encouraging them \u201cto tease out any unethical or illegal intentions\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/span>Cambridge Analytica\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u2714<\/b><\/span><\/span>@CamAnalytica<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0We strongly deny the claims recently made by the New York Times, the Guardian and Channel 4 News. Read our latest press release: https:\/\/<\/span>goo.gl\/oga1L7<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n