Back to Africa Check

No, Kenya’s Anglican archbishop didn’t say church had no record of presidential candidate Odinga being a member

A graphic circulating online quotes archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit, head of the Anglican Church of Kenya, as casting doubt on whether presidential candidate Raila Odinga was ever baptised into the church.

“We do not have any records in our Church showing that Raila Amollo Odinga was a member of our Maseno Diocese and was baptised as he claimed,” it reads. “We urge him to come forward and show us his baptismal card so that we can ensure it is with our records.”

The graphic shows a photo of Ole Sapit and the logo of NewsNow.co.ke, an obscure blog.

Kenya is set to hold elections tomorrow, on 9 August. Odinga, a former prime minister, is one of the two leaders in the race for the presidency. His main rival is current deputy president William Ruto.

The graphic appeared online a few days after Odinga was falsely quoted as saying: “I was baptised at the Anglican church in Maseno, those spreading news that I want to fight Christianity should stop because it is satan’s propaganda.”

Maseno is in the western Kenya city of Kisumu. It’s an Odinga stronghold.

In July, Odinga was reported to have said that there was a “colonial ideology that elevated Christianity above all other religions. My government will end that. Kenya is a secular society, and we will respect all religions.”

The remarks irked many Christians in Kenya, a country where the religion is in the majority. Odinga then clarified his statements.

But did archbishop Ole Sapit say that there was no record of Odinga being baptised into, or being a member of, the Maseno diocese? 

Fake Jackson Ole Sapit quote

Archbishop ‘has made no such utterances’

On 4 August 2022, the official verified Facebook account of the archbishop posted the quote and stamped it “FAKE”.

“We wish to caution members of the public that the Archbishop has made no such utterances as purported in this poster,” wrote Ole Sapit.

Republish our content for free

Please complete this form to receive the HTML sharing code.

For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false

A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?

Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.

Publishers guide

Africa Check teams up with Facebook

Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.

The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.

You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.

Add new comment

Restricted HTML

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a href hreflang> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote cite> <code> <ul type> <ol start type> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <h2 id> <h3 id> <h4 id> <h5 id> <h6 id>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
limit: 600 characters

Want to keep reading our fact-checks?

We will never charge you for verified, reliable information. Help us keep it that way by supporting our work.

Become a newsletter subscriber

Support independent fact-checking in Africa.