. Earth Science News .
DEMOCRACY
Major Cambridge Analytica role in Kenyan poll denied
by Staff Writers
Nairobi (AFP) March 21, 2018

Kenya's ruling Jubilee Party on Wednesday denied that Cambridge Analytica had stage-managed the victory of President Uhuru Kenyatta in highly disputed and deadly 2017 elections.

The British firm at the centre of a scandal over the improper use of Facebook data in US President Donald Trump's election 2016 campaign, has also come under the spotlight in Kenya, where it worked on Kenyatta's campaign last year and in 2013.

An expose aired by Channel 4 television in the United Kingdom included hidden camera footage of company managing director Mark Turnbull bragging about their role in Kenya's elections.

"(In) the campaign which we ran in 2013 and 2017 for Kenyatta, we have rebranded the entire party twice, written their manifesto, done two rounds of 50,000 surveys... research, analysis, messaging, then we'd write all the speeches and we'd stage the whole thing; so just about every element of his campaign."

Jubilee vice-chairman David Murathe, however, denied that the company had played any significant role.

He said the party had never dealt directly with Cambridge Analytica, only their sister company SCL Elections, which is also managed by Turnbull.

"There's nothing there," Murathe told Kenya's Capital FM News radio. "We engaged the services of several marketing companies. All they (SCL) did for us was branding; billboards, T-shirts and the like. They had no involvement in our social media campaign."

Kenya's 2017 election season saw one presidential poll annulled by the courts and the re-run boycotted by the opposition, with over 100 people killed, most of them shot dead by police during protests.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga insisted that victory had been stolen from him, although recently he and Kenyatta pledged to reconcile in a bid to heal the country's divisions.

However the head of Odinga's National Super Alliance (NASA) secretariat Norman Magaya said the revelations about Cambridge Analytica were proof that Jubilee employed underhanded tactics to steal victory in both elections.

Magaya said this was made all the more deplorable by the campaign's intent to inflame already heightened ethnic tensions.

Cambridge Analytica has been accused of being behind a toxic campaign ad unleashed online just weeks before national elections presenting a dystopia in which Odinga won the vote and plunged the nation into a violent and inept dictatorship.

Under this scenario, tribes would be set against one another while terrorists run riot.

"Here it can lead to war," said John Githongo, a veteran anti-corruption campaigner at the time. "The wrong video, the wrong information, it can go out of control."

In the Channel 4 expose, Turnbull promoted strategies that prey on people's fears stating "elections are not won on facts."

Magaya said NASA had constituted a legal team of five people to work together with IT experts to determine the extent of Cambridge Analytica's role in the elections and if legal action should be taken.


Related Links
Democracy in the 21st century at TerraDaily.com


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


DEMOCRACY
Berlusconi's right-wing coalition ahead in Italy vote: exit polls
Rome (AFP) March 4, 2018
Media mogul Silvio Berlusconi's right-wing coalition was set to win the most votes but could fall short of a majority in Italy's election Sunday, with far-right and populist parties surging ahead, according to exit polls. Berlusconi's grouping was expected to win between 31 and 41 percent of the vote, followed by the anti-establishment Five Star Movement with 29-32 percent, according to an exit poll by Rai public television. The ruling centre-left Democratic Party, which struggled to get across ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

DEMOCRACY
When natural disaster strikes, can insects and other invertebrates recover?

ASEAN leaders tackle Rohingya crisis and urge South China Sea calm

Natural disasters can decimate insect, invertebrate populations

Australian, Cambodian trainers die in demining accident

DEMOCRACY
On The Horizon: A Space Renaissance

CosmoQuest releases Mappers 2.0 for crater mapping

A new way to combine soft materials

ORNL researchers design novel method for energy-efficient deep neural networks

DEMOCRACY
World needs 'greener' water policies as demand rises: UN

World water problems on tap at Brazil conference

India's Silicon Valley faces man-made water crisis

World's largest cities depend on evaporated water from surrounding lands

DEMOCRACY
Arctic sea ice becoming a spring hazard for North Atlantic ships

Glacier mass loss: Past the point of no return

Thawing permafrost produces more methane than expected

Sea level fears as more of giant Antarctic glacier floating than thought

DEMOCRACY
NZ dairy giant Fonterra posts loss on China writedown, CEO to go

Agriculture must make water use go further: experts

Algorithm could streamline harvesting of hand-picked crops

Background radiation in UAE's agricultural topsoil found to be lower than global average

DEMOCRACY
20 dead as powerful storm hits Madagascar

17 die in Madagascar tropical storm

Researchers record sound of volcanic thunder for the first time

An extra half degree of global warming could displace 5 million people

DEMOCRACY
Ghana, US seek closer military ties

Nigeria was warned before Boko Haram abduction: Amnesty

Canada to deploy troops, helicopters to help UN in Mali

Egypt, Sudan presidents agree to patch up differences

DEMOCRACY
Fish accounted for surprisingly large part of the Stone Age diet

Evidence of early innovation pushes back timeline of human evolution

Archaeologists detail origins of elongated heads among ancient Bavarians

Chimpanzees inspire more accurate computer-generated animal simulations









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.