Reports circulating on social media that the Government of South Sudan has barred Kenyan musician Akothee from performing in the country are fake news, Peter Jok, an official from the South Sudan Embassy in Nairobi, has said.
Mr Jok said the quotes attributed to South Sudan’s Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Dr Nadia Arop Dudi, banning the musician from setting foot in the country are fabricated.
On Wednesday morning, Kenyans woke up to an article published on South Sudan’s tabloid Jubaeye.net, which claimed that Dr Dudi rejected Akothee’s application to perform in the country on claims that she is “too immoral”, is “a “bad influence” and “lacks self-respect”.
A quote Jubaeye attributed to Dr Dudi read in part: “I watched Akothee’s performances on YouTube, and with the way she immorally behaves on stage, I conclude she is not the right musician to entertain our youth.”
And now, the South Sudan Embassy in Nairobi has rubbished claims that Akothee has been blocked from holding performances in South Sudan.
“The minister [of culture and youth] is not involved, whatsoever, in approving or rejecting artistes’ application to perform in South Sudan. I have read the quotes attributed to Dr Dudi, and I want to confirm that they are fabricated. Akothee has not, in any way, been stopped from headlining shows in South Sudan. What was published on that website [Jubaeye] are purely lies founded on desperation for eyeballs,” said Peter Jok, a South Sudan Embassy official mandated to speak to the press.
Akothee recently attracted flak on social media over pictures, which showed her posing “raunchily” on stage at a Malindi restaurant.