Since the 26 July 2019 death of Ken Okoth, Kenya's member of parliament for the Kibra constituency, politicians have been facing off to fill his vacant seat.
The by-election is slated for 7 November 2019.
The Kibra constituency has long been seen as opposition leader Raila Odinga’s turf. Odinga represented the people of the constituency’s Kibera slum in parliament from 1992 to 2013.
On 21 September a Facebook user shared two photos of slum dwellings with the claim they were in Kibera.
“Right Hon. Raila Omolo Ondiga (aka baba's) bedroom,” he captioned the photos, in reference to the politician’s perceived stranglehold on the area’s politics. (Note: The opposition leader’s full name is Raila Amolo Odinga.)
But only one of the photos was taken in Kibera. A reverse image search reveals that the first photo isn’t even from Kenya.
According to Alamy, a British stock photography agency, the photo was taken on 9 March 2007 by Dinodia Photos, an Indian photo company.
The image is described by Dinodia Photos as: “Unhygienic conditions in a slum in Mumbai/Bombay, Maharashtra, India.”
The second photo does show Kibera.
Using another reverse image search, Africa Check found the photo on a Flickr album titled St Aloysius Gonzaga High School. The description says the 30 photos in the album were “all taken by students of St Aloysius Gonzaga High School, located in the Kibera Slum of Nairobi, Kenya”.
St Aloysius Gonzaga is a Jesuit high school for teens who have lost one or both parents to Aids.
The photos in the album were exhibited at the Kuona Trust art gallery in Nairobi. A review of the exhibition can be read on the Daily Nation news site. – Dancan Bwire
The by-election is slated for 7 November 2019.
The Kibra constituency has long been seen as opposition leader Raila Odinga’s turf. Odinga represented the people of the constituency’s Kibera slum in parliament from 1992 to 2013.
On 21 September a Facebook user shared two photos of slum dwellings with the claim they were in Kibera.
“Right Hon. Raila Omolo Ondiga (aka baba's) bedroom,” he captioned the photos, in reference to the politician’s perceived stranglehold on the area’s politics. (Note: The opposition leader’s full name is Raila Amolo Odinga.)
Slum in Mumbai, India
But only one of the photos was taken in Kibera. A reverse image search reveals that the first photo isn’t even from Kenya.
According to Alamy, a British stock photography agency, the photo was taken on 9 March 2007 by Dinodia Photos, an Indian photo company.
The image is described by Dinodia Photos as: “Unhygienic conditions in a slum in Mumbai/Bombay, Maharashtra, India.”
Photo by Kibera high school student
The second photo does show Kibera.
Using another reverse image search, Africa Check found the photo on a Flickr album titled St Aloysius Gonzaga High School. The description says the 30 photos in the album were “all taken by students of St Aloysius Gonzaga High School, located in the Kibera Slum of Nairobi, Kenya”.
St Aloysius Gonzaga is a Jesuit high school for teens who have lost one or both parents to Aids.
The photos in the album were exhibited at the Kuona Trust art gallery in Nairobi. A review of the exhibition can be read on the Daily Nation news site. – Dancan Bwire
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[email protected]: The challenges of working across Africa
Misinformation knows no borders and Africa Check often responds to similar false claims from country to country.
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