IN SHORT: According to a front page seemingly from Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper, opposition politician Kalonzo Musyoka sought a political pact with Kenyan president William Ruto in the country’s coastal city of Mombasa. But the front page is fake.
Kenyan opposition politician Kalonzo Musyoka travelled to the country’s coastal city of Mombasa to seek a political pact with president William Ruto. That’s according to what looks like the front page of Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper doing the rounds on social media.
The front page, dated 26 February 2025, is headlined: “Kalonzo camps in Mombasa, seeks Ruto’s ‘handshake’.”
A summary below the headline reads: “Desperate: After realizing he is heading nowhere by banking on Rigathi Gachagua, Musyoka opts to follow Raila’s path.”
Mombasa is Kenya’s second-largest city and is located in the southern part of the country.
Musyoka is the leader of the Wiper Democratic Movement party.
The word “handshake” became popular in March 2018, when rivals – former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga – reconciled. It has since been widely used in Kenya to refer to a political truce.
The front page has been posted here and here. (Note: See more instances listed at the end of this report.)
Political realignments in Kenya
The graphic comes at a time when Kenyan politicians are keen to forge new political alliances ahead of the 2027 general elections.
President Ruto and Odinga’s relations improved drastically in 2024, leading to the inclusion of the latter’s allies in the government. Ruto also supported Odinga’s unsuccessful bid to become the African Union Commission (AUC) chairperson. Djibouti’s Mahmoud Ali Youssouf won the election held on 15 February 2025.
After failing to clinch the AUC seat, Odinga has left many Kenyans speculating on his next political move. His meeting with Ruto in Mombasa after the AUC elections has fueled local media reports that a political pact between the two could be in the cards ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Musyoka has also been seeking new political friends. He has embraced former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua, who was impeached after falling out with Ruto.
Musyoka has criticised Ruto’s government, but did the Daily Nation report that he sought an agreement with the president in Mombasa? We checked.
Altered front page
Nation Africa, the newspaper’s online platform, usually posts digital versions of its front pages on its verified social media accounts, including Facebook and X. We compared a genuine front page to the one in question and found clear differences.
The genuine front page usually has the newspaper’s name, “DAILY NATION”. But the words on the front page in question have been switched to “NATION DAILY”. This is the first hint that it could have been fabricated.
The headline and summary are the second hint that the circulating front page could be fake. Their font differs from that on a genuine front page.
We looked for the original front page for 26 February 2025 on the newspaper’s social media pages and found it.
It has the headline: “Sh61bn: IEBC polls shocker”. Its summary reads: “The budget is Sh19 billion more than the amount splashed in the 2022 General Election by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and comes at a time when the country’s healthcare system is in a mess, the capitation to public schools has not been disbursed and the university funding model is in disarray.”
On 28 February, the news site posted a blurred version of the suspicious front page on Facebook, with the word “fake” printed across it.
The front page in circulation is fake and should be ignored.
The fake front page was also posted here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
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