By Eunice Omollo
Campaigning for Kenya’s presidential election, Deputy President William Ruto took his campaign to Embakasi, a neighbourhood in the east of Nairobi.
Ruto is contesting the presidency as the leader of the United Democratic Alliance party and the Kenya Kwanza alliance of political parties. The other front-runner is Raila Odinga, who is leading the Azimio One Kenya Coalition party.
In the leadup to the 19 June 2022 rally which was held at the Jacaranda grounds, supporters of the opposing parties clashed, and some threw stones at Ruto’s vehicle.
After the rally, Embakasi East lawmaker Babu Owino wrote a post on Twitter, claiming that the attack on Ruto’s motorcade had been stage-managed to discredit his political party. “Look at these photos keenly.The guys in same uniform stoning Ruto’s car and at the same time providing security at the same rally.Wacha kutubeba mafala after stage managing your own attack,” Owino wrote.
Image is a screenshot
He attached two photographs. The first shows a man in a back shirt with what looks like a yellow muscular arm on it seemingly stoning the vehicle in the motorcade. The second shows a number of men wearing similar shirts surrounding the motorcade.
We reviewed a video of the stoning incident, which was widely available on social media and found that the first image is a screenshot from a video of the skirmish. The video shows that the man poised to throw a stone actually threw the stone behind the car and not at the car as Owino claims.
Video shows the second image was taken after the rally, as Ruto was leaving, and the three men marked by Owino are clearly visible.
The picture Owino shared does show Ruto’s supporter stoning his vehicle. It’s an excerpt from a video and shows events in a false context.
