Altered clips of news bulletins falsely claim Kenya sold territory and citizens to China

This article is more than one year old.
Published on December 8, 2023 at 16:41
3 min read
By James OKONG'O, AFP Kenya

In October 2023, Kenyan President William Ruto led a delegation to Beijing to attend the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, an initiative started by China in 2013 aimed at creating trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia, Europe, Africa, and other regions that fall along the old Silk Road trade routes. Soon thereafter, two clips emerged online claiming the Kenyan government had sold nearly half of the country’s counties and some of its people to the Chinese state. But this is false: the audio in the newscast footage was replaced. The original clips, posted on a leading Kenyan broadcaster's YouTube channel, mention nothing about the sale of Kenyan counties or its people to China.

“Kenya has officially sold 20 counties to China which includes Kiambu, Meru, Nyandarua, Naivasha, Limuru and 14 others,” reads text published in one of the videos on Instagram on November 26, 2023.

The clip, which has the Kenyan Television Network News logo in the top left, features journalist Eric Latiff reading a news bulletin and has been liked more than 4,800 times.

Screenshot showing the altered clip, taken on December 7, 2023

In the news segment, Ruto is seen standing with a group of men in suits, followed by a man signing documents in what looks like an office.

The clip was also shared on TikTok here and here.

Rather than hearing Latiff’s voice, the audio seems to consist of an automated narration. “Kenyans are asked to quietly leave their things and get out of Chinese land by 1 January 2024,” says the robotic-like voice.

A similar clip, also featuring Latiff with the same studio background, was shared on Facebook in a post with a caption that reads: “Kenya sells four of her tribes to China.”

This time, the audio claims that “Kenya has officially sold four tribes which are Luos, Kikuyus, Kambas, and Luhya at KSh13 trillion to China. These tribes will be used as farmers in China. China will first come for Kikuyu and Luhya. They are asked to cooperate or else go in pieces (sic)”.

Kenya comprises more than 40 different ethnic communities (archived here).

Debt crisis

Kenya has accumulated more than 10.1 trillion shillings ($68 billion) in debt, a figure equivalent to 67 percent of its gross domestic product (archived here).

The cost of servicing the debt, mainly to China, has ballooned as the country’s currency has fallen to record lows of more than 150 shillings to the dollar, according to treasury data.

Just before Ruto’s trip to China, his deputy Rigathi Gachagua said the president would ask China for “more time to repay the debt slowly” and request an additional $1 billion (153.3 billion shillings) loan to complete road projects stalled due to financial shortfalls.

Back at home, Kenya has doubled its efforts to increase revenue collection through controversial tax hikes, and the sale of “non-performing parastatals” among other public facilities to private investors (archived here).

Critics argue that the country is struggling financially due to deep-rooted corruption in government and that overtaxing Kenyans and privatising parastatals will not improve the situation.

However, the videos claiming government has sold land and people to China are false.

Manipulated videos

AFP Fact Check used a keyword search “Ruto in China on KTN News” and found the original broadcast on the KTN News YouTube channel, posted on October 17, 2023.

Ruto was in China on this day and, according to the bulletin, he signed several important deals.

“The deals were inked on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Initiative Forum in Beijing. Kenya is seeking to deepen the trade and economic relations with China as President William Ruto leads a delegation to market Kenya as a destination of investment for the far-east economic powerhouse,” Latiff says in the bulletin.

We compared screenshots from the altered video and the clip posted on the KTN News YouTube channel. Matching elements include the broadcaster’s logo, the sign language interpreter and the text “Ruto in China.” Only the audio has been replaced.

Screenshot comparing the social media clip (left) and the original footage showing the news bulletin

At no point in the original bulletin does Latiff raise the spectre of Kenya selling almost half of its 47 counties as well as people to China. Likewise, there have been no news reports on the topic.

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