By Victor Mboya
Soon after Kenya’s election agency called the presidential election in favour of Kenya’s Deputy President, William Ruto, a photo of Canada-based lawyer, Miguna Miguna was shared on social media.
It shows him carrying luggage, presumably in an airport on the way to Kenya, after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission declared that Ruto had won the election.
(Note: Raila Odinga, Ruto’s main rival has protested the result and is expected to file a challenge at Kenya’s supreme court.)
“Miguna Miguna at Toronto Airport on his way back to Kenya After election of ruto as president,” the caption read.
The photo was also shared on Facebook by an account with the name of Jubilee party official David Murathe. “Karibu Nyumbani” (Welcome Home), the caption says.
Murathe has previously told us he has no Twitter account and his Facebook account is largely inactive, meaning this account, which actively Tweets using his name, is a fake account.
We checked if the photo showed the Kenyan lawyer Miguna Miguna in an airport headed to Kenya after the 2022 general election. Miguna lives in Canada after the government of Kenya thwarted multiple attempts by him to return to Kenya.
A TinEye reverse image search showed the image was published on the Kenyan news site Tuko.co.ke in a 26 March 2018 story and credited to Robin Njogu, a journalist who sadly passed away in 2020.
The photo was published on the same day on Njogu’s Twitter account, as he covered Miguna’s return from Canada.
The caption read “National Resistance Movement’s self-proclaimed general @MigunaMiguna expected back in the country at 2:30 pm. #MigunaReturns @MigunaMiguna”.
Miguna Miguna himself tweeted he was ready to return but was not yet en route. “Yes, I’ve packed my bags and I’m ready. But before I can take my flight back home, William Samoei Ruto must first be sworn in as President, the red alerts lifted and my Kenyan passport renewed,” he wrote.
