Clip of Kenya's opposition chief apologising to ex-president in 2018, not current leader

“Raila apologies to president Ruto for disturbing his government in demonstrations (sic),” reads the text embedded on the TikTok video published on April 5, 2023.

The 21-second-long clip, which has been shared more than 2,200 times, shows Odinga addressing a gathering.

“On behalf of my team and myself, I, in front of this congregation gathered here, prayer breakfast, tender my apology to my brother”, he says in the video.

Ruto then joins him at the podium and they hug and shake hands as the crowd applauds.

Kenyatta, who served as the country’s president from 2013 until Ruto succeeded him in 2022, is also seen on stage.

Image

Screenshot showing the false post, taken on April 20, 2023

Kenyan anti-government protests

Odinga lost the August 2022 presidential election to Ruto by a slim margin. Since then, tensions have been rising between the two politicians.

In February 2023, Odinga gave Ruto an ultimatum (archived here) to address alleged election fraud in last year's vote and tackle Kenya's rising cost of living. He also demanded a halt in the ongoing process of appointing new electoral commissioners.

After Ruto failed to meet his demands, Odinga spearheaded several marches. Following two weeks of deadly protests(archived here), Ruto and Odinga separately announced that they had agreed to parliament-led bipartisan negotiations (archived here) to resolve the tensions.

However, the opposition warned that protests would resume if it did not deem the talks meaningful.

Local media reported (archived here) that there were still some unresolved issues.

But the video does not show Odinga apologising to President Ruto following the recent trouble shaking the country.

Edited old clip

Using the InVID-WeVerify video verification tool, AFP Fact Check performed reverse image searches on keyframes from the clip and found that it has been online since 2018.

The original footage (archived here) was taken at a national prayer breakfast held on May 31, 2018. The then-president Kenyatta invited Ruto, his deputy at the time, to the podium, along with two opposition politicians including Odinga.

Kenyatta asked Odinga to forgive him for anything he may have said or done during the 2017 election campaigns when the two politicians openly insulted one another. At 2'40", Odinga then apologises to Kenyatta – not Ruto – in return.

Odinga and Ruto hugged and shook hands much later in the footage, at 8'35", as they left the podium. However, this scene was placed right after Odinga’s apology in the clip shared on TikTok, giving the false impression that he had apologised to Ruto.

In 2017 Odinga campaigned under the National Super Alliance (NASA) party but lost to Kenyatta’s Jubilee party.

Odinga challenged (archived here) Kenyatta’s victory in court and the election was nullified over irregularities.

Odinga, however, boycotted the repeat poll claiming that they would not be free and fair.

Kenyatta emerged victorious with over 90 percent of the vote.