Misleading posts use old images of Raila Odinga in UK claiming to show him holding bilateral talks
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on August 31, 2023 at 16:10
- 3 min read
- By Mary KULUNDU, AFP Kenya
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“Raila Odinga holds bilateral talks in UK, Kenya represented accurately by babaman. Raila Odinga nation drop handles (sic),” reads a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, published on August 20, 2023. “Babaman” refers to Odinga.
The image shows Odinga and the UK’s member of parliament and former trade minister Theodora Clarke in a meeting where the flags of their countries are on display.
A day earlier, the same X account shared an image of Odinga and British Armed Forces Minister James Heappey alongside the caption: “Raila Odinga already in the UK and already having a meeting.”
The post was shared more than 100 times.
The claim about Heappey was repeated here and here.
Odinga travelled to the United Kingdom on August 19, 2023, and in a statement to newsrooms, his spokesman, Denis Onyango, said it was a “one-week business and private visit”.
The images of the veteran Kenyan politician meeting British delegates circulated at a time Odinga’s party has entered bipartisan talks with President William Ruto’s government to resolve a bitter political feud following a spate of violent protests over the high cost of living and calls for electoral reforms (archived report).
Some of the claims suggested Odinga had already cut a deal with the government and was therefore officially “representing” Kenya in the UK.
But the pictures are old and unrelated to current political events in Kenya.
Campaign trail
When the images were taken, Odinga was on the campaign trail and preparing to contest the 2022 elections as a presidential candidate.
A reverse image search located similar images of Odinga and Clarke’s meeting on the Kenyan politician’s X account, published on March 16, 2022 (archived here).
This formed the basis of our discussion at the House of Commons with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s trade envoy to Kenya, @theodoraclarke.
— Raila Odinga (@RailaOdinga) March 16, 2022
The meeting was also attended by 10 members from both Houses of Parliament. 2/2 pic.twitter.com/LIgHajsMIu
According to a report in Kenya’s Nation newspaper, Odinga “pledged to enhance strategic global partnership with the UK if elected president” (archived report). Ruto won last year’s general election.
A reverse image search of the second picture showing Odinga with Heappey led to another news report published in Nation on March 15, 2022.
The article said Odinga’s meeting with Heappey was his first foreign engagement after being named the presidential candidate of his Azimio coalition (archived here).
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