A tweet archived here was posted on February 23, 2023 and contains an image of an emaciated person lying on the ground. In reference to the drought situation in Northern Kenya, the text on the tweet partly reads; “An old man has just succumbed and the situation keeps deteriorating”.
Background
The Northern Kenya region is among the areas often worst hit by climate crises. Northern Kenya includes Marsabit, Mandera, Garissa and Wajir Counties. Some of the most recent reports indicate that the region has been witnessing fatal floods which began in March 2023. Piga Firimbi has debunked some of the flood-related claims said to be from Northern Kenya in fact-checks published Here and Here.
Verification
The tweet, claiming to show an old man who “just succumbed” as a result of severe drought in Northern Kenya features an image that was previously published as early as 2017 in a tweet here posted on March 24, 2017. The image further featured in subsequent years such as 2019 here, as well as 2020 according to Google and Yandex reverse searches. Therefore the image of the man appearing to succumb to death due to hunger is not from this year.
Verdict
The tweet claiming to show an old man that allegedly succumbed to death on February 23, 2023, is MISLEADING.
This fact-check was produced by Africa Uncensored with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck, the International Fact-Checking Network, and the African Fact-Checking Alliance network.
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