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Beware – video of Kenyan president apparently abandoning pact with opposition leader Raila Odinga from 2016, not 2021

A Facebook user shared a video showing Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta attacking opposition leader Raila Odinga

The user captioned the video in Kiswahili: “Uhuru amruka Raila. Wewe Raila kumbe uliingia Jubilee kutuharibia maendeleo na kuendeleza siasa ya vita! ~ Uhuru Kenyatta reacts to Raila, Tinga now in panic.” 

This means: “Uhuru abandons Raila. Raila, you actually came to Jubilee to disrupt our developments and continue with politics of violence.”

The video, posted on 13 November 2021, has 91,000 views at time of publication. The user claims Kenyatta has abandoned the March 2018 political truce he struck with Odinga. 

In the video, Kenyatta calls Odinga “an agent of underdevelopment”.

“Kila saa hata nchi ikiendelea mbele wanajaribu kutuvuta kurudi nyuma na siasa ya mgawanyiko, siasa ya kikabila, siasa ya ujinga na siasa ya uongo,” he says, in part.

This can be translated as: “Every time our country develops, they try to pull us behind with divisive, tribal, foolish politics and one full of lies.”

Kenyatta says Odinga has made false claims of corruption about a hospital to be built in the town of Nanyuki north of the capital Nairobi. 

But does the video show Kenyatta abandoning his pact with Odinga? We checked.

kenyatta_false

Old video from 2016

Africa Check searched for the video on YouTube using the key phrase “Uhuru attacks Raila over Nanyuki hospital”.

We found the video posted as far back as 28 November 2016 by Kenyan news organisation Nation Africa.

The video was titled: “Retire from politics, Uhuru tells Raila.” 

According to the description of the video, Kenyatta made the comments on 28 November 2016. 

At the time, Odinga was his closest challenger for the presidency in the 2017 elections

The video is from November 2016, not November 2021. The context of the video has been falsified in recent posts on social media.

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