Misleading videos shared as Kenyan leaders' stances on anniversary protests

AFP

26-06-2025

On June 25, 2025, Kenya marked the first anniversary of the anti-government protests that saw demonstrators breach parliament. Ahead of the anniversary, videos shared on social media purported to show prominent Kenyan leaders — including Deputy President Kithure Kindiki, ex-deputy president Rigathi Gachagua, and opposition leader Raila Odinga
—
speaking against the planned anniversary protests. However, these claims are misleading; two of the clips are old, and one features false text.
'Gen Z Wednesday morning come and meet us you'll see fire,' reads the text overlay on a TikTok post published on June 24, 2025, partly in Swahili.
The post was shared more than 900 times.
The clip shows Kindiki giving a warning: 'I hear there are people giving many stories there on what they will do on Wednesday. Come in the morning and meet us.'
He adds: 'Because this country is not yours alone, it belongs to everyone. Those who are not protesting, it is their country. Even you, it is your country. Is the country yours alone?'
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Screenshot of the misleading post, taken on June 24, 2025
'Message is clear from Gachagua no protests (sic),' reads the text overlaid on another TikTok post published on June 20, 2025, in Swahili and English.
'...To plead with you to call off the protests, so that criminals do not hijack them and engage in criminal activities. The president has already ceded, so you have pleaded to be heard, and you'll be heard,' Gachagua says in the clip.
'But anytime now you call for protests, criminals with bad intent are hijacking and using that opportunity to loot, to steal and to cause mayhem,' he continues. 'As our children you owe this country peace, please consider now that you have been heard. Don't allow these criminals an opportunity to take advantage of what you had started in good faith with a message to the country, infiltrate and hijack and bring chaos to our beautiful country.'
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Screenshot of the misleading post, taken on June 24, 2025
On a third TikTok post, published on June 24, 2025, a text overlay reads: ''No protests tomorrow!' Raila Odinga on June 25 Protests.'
'The youth and other Kenyans said they would go for protests tomorrow,' Odinga says in the clip.
He then reads Article 37 of the constitution which guarantees every Kenyan's right to peacefully assemble, demonstrate, picket and present petitions to public authorities.
He also points out the need for protesters to 'notify the authorities in advance' and 'share details of the starting point, route, end location and time' of the planned protests, adding that the role of the police is to 'guard the protestors, ensure peace and protect property from destruction'.
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Screenshot of the misleading post, taken on June 24, 2025
Landmark protest anniversary
June 25, 2025, marked one year since anti-tax protests culminated in demonstrators storming Kenya's parliament. At least sixty people were killed by security forces during the protests (archived here and here).
According to a report by the Kenyan civil society coalition Missing Voices, last year's anti-government demonstrations increased enforced disappearances by police by 450 percent in 2024 (archived here).
Recent weeks have seen renewed public outrage stemming from allegations of police abductions and arbitrary arrests, notably following the death of blogger Albert Ojwang in police custody earlier this month (archived here).
Ahead of the anniversary, President William Ruto warned against violence and disruption, urging Kenyans to respect the police and not provoke or intimidate them (archived here).
However, the clips linking several prominent leaders' addresses to the anniversary protests are misleading.
Videos missing context
AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches for keyframes from the videos and the results established that the clips of Kindiki and Gachagua are old, while the Odinga clip, despite being used in the right context, is incorrectly described.
The clip of Kindiki was originally published by Citizen TV on July 10, 2023 (archived here).
At the time, Kindiki, who was serving as interior cabinet secretary, was warning opposition protesters who were planning mass action. He cautioned against violence and destruction of property, stating that the police would use full force to maintain peace.
While he has not publicly commented on this year's anniversary protests, after he was appointed deputy president, Kindiki defended his tenure as interior minister, stating that he takes no responsibility for last year's police operations (archived here).
He acknowledged the pain of the families who lost loved ones but emphasised the need for order.
The clip showing Gachagua was published by Citizen TV on July 3, 2024 (archived here).
In that address, he was pleading with the youth to call off the anti-government protests that had rocked the country for weeks, occasioned by the 2024 Finance Bill.
Gachagua did, however, recently speak against the anniversary protests. He warned the youth not to take to the streets and advised them to conduct their commemorations peacefully from their homes, alleging a plot by the government to kill protesters using hired goons (archived here).
Finally, the clip of Odinga is from an address he gave in Mombasa a day before the protest anniversary (archived here).
While he did indeed address the planned anniversary protests, he did not at any point speak against them, as the text on TikTok claims.
Instead, he defended Kenyans' right to protest, pointed out the need to notify relevant authorities in advance, and urged the government to respect the constitution and allow peaceful protests under police protection.
He also called out the church for what he termed as selective outrage, accusing religious leaders of hypocrisy over their recent condemnation of police brutality.