This tweet with an image of police officers on ATVs claims to supposedly show part of “over one thousand police officers who have been deployed by the Ministry of Interior to provide tight security to Azimio leader Raila Odinga and his supporters during today’s [December 7, 2022] demonstrations.”
Background
On November 2, Azimio La Umoja leader Raila Odinga called for “public consultations” to deliberate on the suspension of four dissenting Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners. President William Ruto suspended the four commissioners, who disagreed with the presidential election results announced by IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati, pending the formation of a tribunal to investigate their conduct during the elections.
However, Raila Odinga disputed the suspension of the four, terming it dictatorial hence the call for a “public consultative forum” at Kamukunji Grounds to engage the public on the matter of the suspended commissioners as well as call on “Kenyans to share views on the state of affairs in the country”. Raila also refuted that the meeting was a demonstration.
Verification
A reverse image search of the image leads to this page with a link to a nation.africa article. The article, published on September 1, 2017, was on the deployment of police in Kisumu ahead of the Supreme court ruling on the election petition filed by Raila Odinga disputing the 2017 election results.
The caption on the image reads: Police officers around the Supreme Court in Nairobi on September 1, 2017.
Verdict
The image on the tweet is NOT of police providing security for Raila’s rally at Kamukunji on December 7, 2022.
This fact-check was produced by Africa Uncensored with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck, African Fact Checking Alliance network and the United Nations Development Programme.
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