By Vincent Ng’ethe
Uhuru Kenyatta’s second term as president is drawing to a close and Kenyans will choose a new president in the August 2022 elections.
All over the capital city, billboards have appeared, highlighting projects that Kenyatta’s government has completed. They include the two Swahili words “Tulaihidi” and “Tumetimiza” which translate to “We promised” and “We have delivered” in English.
The two words have been used in a media campaign by the Jubilee party. They were also used previously on Twitter by Tanzania’s governing party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi.
Recently, one photo of a billboard shared on Twitter shows Kenyatta smiling, and next to him, a packet of maize flour with the caption “UNGA PRICE CUT”. Another part of the poster helpfully notes, “Was 225/= now 223/=”, referring to an alleged drop in prices.
High prices of maize flour, which Kenyans use to make their staple food, ugali, have been a hot topic of discussion as the election draws near.
We checked if the photo was genuine, with a departing Uhuru taking credit for reducing the price of maize flour. A reverse image search shows that the image was photoshopped.
An advertising agency‘s Facebook page posted the photo of the billboard in May 2022. However, the image on the billboard also appears on the Twitter account of a fast-food chain in December 2021. The original image was advertising a Christmas fast-food offer, not achievements by the outgoing president.
