Old video does not show former Kenyan president talking about farm invasion

Political tension in Kenya has risen as opposition leader Raila Odinga called for protests every Monday and Thursday, accusing President William Ruto of stealing last year's election and of failing to control the surging cost of living.

On March 27, 2023, anti-government demonstrations turned violent, with police firing teargas and looters rampaging (AFP story archived here). Two people have died since the protests started on March 20, 2023.

Coinciding with a rally on March 27, 2023, intruders invaded Kenyatta’s farm in central Kenya and stole animals, cut trees and set the property on fire.

According to reports by local media (archived here), the suspects were allegedly sponsored by politicians who have accused Kenyatta of backing Odinga’s protests.

After the invasion, a Facebook page called “Simy Kenya” shared a video (that has since been deleted) of Kenyatta warning Kenyans in Swahili against divisive politics and the need for collaboration to build a peaceful nation.

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A screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken on March 30, 2023

“I have no vested interests and that is why I am telling Kenyans to think,” Kenyatta says in the clip. “Think about how you want to plan your future. We do not want to have a Kenya where people are going to be divided over tribal, religious or any other issues. We want to make sure what has always caused conflict among Kenyans after every election is resolved."

The video drew more than 450,000 views and was shared over 650 times.

“Angry Uhuru Kenyatta finally speaks after his Northland properties were vandalised and burnt down last night,” the post reads.

A similar claim was shared on this TikTok account – featuring the same name as the Facebook page -- and on YouTube here.

However, the clip is unrelated to the current unrest and was recorded when Kenyatta was still president.

Unrelated clip

Using INVID WeVerify, we conducted a reverse image search and located Facebook posts (here and here) sharing the same clip in 2021.

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A screenshot of the same video we are debunking, published on September 18, 2021

However, the context is different; the captions on the posts refer to the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), which was meant to reform the winner-takes-all electoral system blamed for frequent explosions of poll-related violence.

The proposal, which was rejected as illegal by Kenya's top court (article archived here), was drawn up following a rapprochement between Kenyatta and his erstwhile opponent Odinga and a famous handshake between the two men.

However, a further keyword search of Kenyatta’s speech in Swahili revealed that it was delivered the year before.

This article published (archived here) on October 21, 2020, included an image – attributed to State House Kenya – with similarities to the video.

“President Uhuru Kenyatta and Interior CS Fred Matiangi opened CBK Kisii branch,” reads the caption. CBK is the Central Bank of Kenya.

A search for “CBK Kisii” on the State House Facebook page brought up the same image here.

The red-and-white Absa bank logo and a man standing behind Kenyatta’s right shoulder can be seen in both the image and video.

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Comparison screenshots of the video, left, and the image, taken on March 30, 2023

On October 21, 2020, according to news reports, Kenyatta and Odinga received the BBI report at the State House lodge in Kisii county, in western Kenya (reports archived here and here).

On the same day, Kenyatta also launched (archived here) the CBK branch in Kisii.

As of March 31, 2023, Kenyatta was yet to publicly comment on the farm invasion.