By Rodgers Omondi
This photo on X (formerly known as Twitter) and Facebook, supposedly of Kenyan President William Ruto calling for the reinstatement of Gabonese President Ali Bongo, is MISLEADING.
Bongo was detained by a group of senior Gabonese military officers on 30 August 2023, soon after the country’s electoral commission declared him the winner of the 2023 presidential election.
The photo was posted following resorts of Bongo’s house restriction. The image was accompanied by a text indicating that the Kenyan leader released a statement from Kakamega State Lodge, condemning the happenings in Gabon.
However, Google reverse image search results established that the photo is from Ruto’s address on 28 July 2023.
According to Citizen Digital’s report on that address, the President condemned the coup in Niger and offered to assist in mediation through the African Union.
The video of Ruto’s address was shared by State House spokesperson Hussein Mohammed and Standard Digital.
A Google search did not yield credible results on President Ruto releasing the purported statement at Kakamega State Lodge.
We found this article on the President supposedly condemning the happenings in Gabon. The article cited this video as evidence.
However, using a keyword search on X, we established that the cited video is of Ruto addressing the coup in Niger. Both videos of Ruto predate the events in Gabon.
PesaCheck looked into a photo on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, supposedly of President William Ruto calling for the reinstatement of Gabonese President Ali Bongo, and found it to be FALSE.
This fact check was published by Piga Firimbi with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck and African Fact-Checking Alliance.
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