A fraudulent statement has been widely circulated on social media, falsely claiming that the United States Embassy in Kenya imposed travel bans on Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen and Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi. The fake document, dated December 1, alleged that the two officials were banned from traveling to the U.S. indefinitely due to alleged misconduct involving bribery and tender irregularities connected to the Adani Group Limited.
The counterfeit document, riddled with glaring errors, bore the seal of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and a forged signature attributed to its director, Ur Jaddou. Among the inconsistencies were numerous spelling errors, mismatched fonts, and poor formatting, all of which raised suspicions about its authenticity.
Part of the falsified statement read: "The U.S. Government. US. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in coordination with The US Embassy in Kenya herewith restricts the individuals named Oscar Kipchumba Sudi and Onsemus Kipchumba Markomen from entering The United States of America." Notably, the letter even misspelled Murkomen's name as "Onsemus Kipchumba Markomen."
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The document further claimed that the supposed ban would take effect on December 1, 2024, at midnight, and would indefinitely suspend visa exemptions, tourist visa issuance, and e-visas for the two officials.
When contacted for clarification, a source within the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi unequivocally dismissed the claims, confirming that no such travel restrictions had been imposed. “The communication regarding the suspension of the two government officials is fake. The Embassy has not issued any such information,” the source clarified.
The embassy reiterated its stance in a follow-up statement, emphasizing that the purported travel ban was a fabrication. “The travel ban indicated in the letter is a fake and was not issued by any U.S. government official,” it stated.
