In response to a post by Deputy President William Ruto’s aide, Dennis Itumbi, a tweet shared on July 27 claimed to show an image of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga in Gatanga Constituency, Murang’a County.
The tweet further claims that the image that shows a large crowd surrounding Raila’s entourage is as a result of Gatanga residents supposedly demanding that Raila addressed them on the morning of July 27, 2021. A replica of this tweet, containing the same text and image was published on another tweet on the same day (see screenshot below).
Background
Piga Firimbi recently debunked a fake poster claiming to show Interior Minister Fred Matiang’i allegedly bidding for the 2022 presidential seat with Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru said to be her running mate. Such claims appear to be on the rise as Kenya draws closer to the 2022 general elections.
In a similar fashion, an analysis of Uganda’s 2021 general elections was done by Africa Uncensored and found to have been influenced by misinformation that was generated by government entities such as the Ministry of Communication. Find this report titled ‘Uganda In Crisis: The Documented Misinformation’ here. In another report on ‘Kenya’s Keyboard Warriors‘, Africa Uncensored unveils the use of social media to stir political tension online.
Verification
Verdict
Posts claiming to show the image of Raila Odinga in Gatanga Constituency on July 27, 2021 are FALSE.
This story was produced by Africa Uncensored in partnership with Code for Africa with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.
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