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Kenya’s National Super Alliance endorsing Ruto for president? No, 2017 image photoshopped

An image showing leaders of Kenya’s National Super Alliance of political parties apparently showing support for deputy president William Ruto’s bid for president has been shared on a popular Facebook group.

Kalonzo Musyoka, Musalia Mudavadi, Raila Odinga and Moses Wetangula are seen standing in a row, each holding a piece of paper that together spell out “RUTO”. 

“Wameshakubali,” the caption reads. That’s Kiswahili for “They have already accepted.”

In early July 2020 Ruto announced that he would run for president in 2022.

The National Super Alliance unsuccessfully took on current president Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee Party in the 2017 elections.

But does the image show its leaders coming out with a surprise endorsement of Ruto?



Photo of coalition pact in 2017


No reports of the endorsement have appeared in Kenya’s media. And the politicians have not made any statement supporting Ruto on their social media pages.

What has been widely reported is that the Nasa alliance has collapsed, with its leaders publicly criticising each other. This suggests that the photo may have been taken when the party was still active, in 2017.

And a reverse image search reveals that the original photo appeared online as early as February 2017. It was posted on Twitter after the alliance members signed their coalition pact.

 



In the original photo, the politicians are holding copies of the pact. The word “RUTO” has been photoshopped onto the version posted on Facebook. – Dancan Bwire




 

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