- A Facebook post with a photo claiming to show former Prime Minister Raila Odinga “mingling freely” with loved ones despite having tested positive for Covid-19 is FAKE. The post questions whether the government is “using Mr Odinga to scare Kenyans into accepting the Covid-19 vaccines”. On March 11, specialists at the Nairobi Hospital determined that Odinga was Covid-19 positive following his admission to the hospital. A reverse image search of the photo brings up the image published alongside various articles. One of them is in the Daily Monitor dated June 29, 2010, and contains a similar image which appears to have been taken from a different angle on the same day. The caption states that the image was taken the previous day, while the article explains that Odinga had undergone surgery after he hit his head.
- A Facebook post claiming to show pictures of ongoing construction of Kimwarer and Arror dams after the intervention of Deputy President William Ruto is FAKE. We did a reverse image search and found that these photos are not recent and were not taken in Kenya. A Google reverse image search for the first photo revealed that it has been used in various instances, covering the construction of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. The image was used in an article published by Construction Review Online on April 3, 2019. The photo was also used in a Spanish article on Latercera and also in the Daily News Egypt on March 3, 2020, and illustrated articles covering the ongoing dispute around the dam between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan, three of the nine riparian countries with interests in the Nile River on which the GERD lies.
3. A tweet with an image claiming to show flags in Kenya flown half-mast on March 13, 2021 is FAKE. A Google reverse image search shows that the photo is not recent and has been published several times in the past. The image was published with an article on The Star news website in 2016. The caption attached to the image reads, “Several flags flying at half-mast at the Kenyatta mausoleum in Nairobi on the first day of national mourning following the Westgate attack”. The Westgate Mall attack occurred in September 2013. The Kenyan flag is traditionally flown at half-mast as a national symbol of mourning as happened following the death of Kenya’s former President Daniel arap Moi, Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza, and former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. On Wednesday, March 17, 2021 Tanzania’s President John Magufuli passed on aged 61 of heart complications at a hospital in Dar es Salaam. President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday, March 18 ordered flags to be flown at half-mast throughout Kenya and all diplomatic missions abroad from Thursday until the sunset on the day of Magufuli’s funeral.
- A photo shared online with The Star newspaper logo claiming that the Deputy President made comments regarding a school bus donation was fabricated. The comments shared on social media claimed the bus had been taken by Isuzu East Africa. The vehicle dealer would later rubbished the claims. The Star newspaper in a post shared on Facebook on March 17, 2021, flagged the misinformation.
- Lee Funeral Home trended on March 19. Twitter user @Jr_LincolnKE shared the photo with a caption “current situation at Lee Funeral Home”. The photo elicited varied speculations on why there was a heavy security presence. It was rumoured that that several military personalities were hospitalized there because of Covid. Some said the body of Tanzania’s President was being ferried, while others said it was former President Mwai Kibaki who had died. A reverse image search indicated that the photo was taken in 2020 when the former President Daniel Moi’s body was at the funeral home. James Smart, a podcast editor at NTV, shared a photo with a caption ‘right now’ and to further discredit the claims Leon Lidigu shared a video https://twitter.com/i/status/1372833751445684227 on his twitter handle noting that there was nothing happening at the funeral home.
