IN SHORT: A 2023 news report claiming Kenya’s digital ID programme would implant microchips in newborns has resurfaced online. The report spliced together unrelated clips of Kenyan president William Ruto and US billionaire Bill Gates to suggest sinister intentions, but there is no truth to it.
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A video making the rounds on Facebook claims that the Kenyan government will start implanting microchips in newborn babies instead of issuing paper birth certificates.
The video begins with podcaster Jesse Bean saying: “Kenya is trying to do what now? I read this in a book once, and it did not turn out too well.”
It then cuts to journalist Yvonne Katsande in what appears to be a TV news broadcast, saying: “Let me put it blatantly to you, the programme targets the birth of new babies, so once you have your baby, you no longer get a paper birth certificate but you get one that is somehow implanted somewhere on somebody’s body, think about that but have a listen to this.”
Katsande is a Zimbabwean journalist living in South Africa.
From there, the video shows Kenyan president William Ruto, who says: “The digital ID that has been a big problem to us for very long time is now on a testing mode for the next two months. I have been assured by all the stakeholders led by the ministries concerned that by December, we will be able to launch digital ID where every Kenyan don’t have to carry...
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