On January 17, 2022, this image of blogger Dennis Itumbi was widely shared on social media. Showing Itumbi’s recovery progress on one side, it received criticism. Some social media posts questioned whether the image circulating showed the opposite leg that was injured after Itumbi’s alleged abduction, late last month.
We compare this with previous images of Dennis Itumbi to establish the authenticity of these claims.
Background
Piga Firimbi has previously looked into similar manipulated images before. For instance, a false post claimed to show Amani National Congress party leader, Musalia Mudavadi virtually attending the recent Azimio La Umoja rally held at Kasarani Stadium.
Another was a fake digital card claiming that Wangui Ngirici dropped her ambitions to run for Kirinyaga’s gubernatorial seat. Instead, the fake card claimed, she would “be running for the Mwea parliamentary seat under the United Democratic Alliance (UDA).”
Verification
From previous posts of Dennis Itumbi, clearly, both his legs had plasters. More specifically, the right leg had a fracture stabilizer. Now, this fracture stabilizer has consistently been on his right leg since he was discharged from hospital. In this video, for instance, Itumbi is seen leaving the hospital with the same fracture stabilizer on his right leg and a plaster on his left.
Contrary to these comments, replies shared with this image show the same consistencies from the previous images and videos of Itumbi. They suggest that this image had been rotated. (See screengrab below)
Videos illustrating how this image was manipulated by easily flipping it using a mobile editing app have also been circulating. An example of such is one below;
Verdict
This image of Dennis Itumbi with a fracture stabilizer on his left leg is DOCTORED.
This story was produced by Africa Uncensored in partnership with Code for Africa with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.
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