Whenever a politician joins Kenyan deputy president William Ruto’s political camp, he posts the announcement on his Facebook and Twitter pages, with a photo.
But a screenshot of one such Facebook post caught social media attention. It seems to show Ruto shaking the hand of Rachel Chebet Ruto – his wife.
“Earlier today, I welcomed the newest UDA member Mama Rachel Chebet Ruto, who decamped from Tangatanga Women League. Karibu nyumbani,” the caption reads. The Kiswahili means “welcome home”.
The UDA is Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance. Kenya is set to hold elections on 9 August 2022.
But is the screenshot of a real Facebook post by Ruto? We checked.
Image altered
It will be unlikely for Ruto to welcome his own wife to the party as she does not participate in politics.
A reverse image search of the photo reveals that he posted it on Twitter and Facebook on 18 March.
It did not show Chebet. It is instead Jane Kagiri, a candidate for the position of Laikipia county women representative. The image has been altered, with Chebet’s face replacing Kagiri’s
The original photo was among others Ruto posted when he met several election candidates from the county.
He captioned them: “Had consultations with the leadership aspirants from Laikipia County including Jane Kagiri (Women Rep), Gubernatorial candidate Joshua Irungu, John Kinyua (Senator) and Jane Putunoi.”
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 guideAfrica 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.
Further Reading
Kenyan president William Ruto sparred with journalists over his policies. Did he get his facts right?
Ahead of his government’s eagerly anticipated first annual budget, Ruto made a number of claims in a sit-down with journalists.
Add new comment