A fake video went viral on Saturday, February 20, showing President Uhuru Kenyatta allegedly being booed by residents of Dandora, Nairobi.
The video which hit the internet the following day showed Uhuru being heckled as he launched health and water projects implemented by the Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) in Dandora on Friday, February 19.
In the video, people said to be supporters of former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko, can be heard heckling the President, with some local blogs carrying the story.
However, Kenyans.co.ke can now authoritatively report that the video was fake.
A live recording obtained from the Head of State’s address shows the crowd overwhelmingly supporting President Uhuru as he engaged them on the achievements of NMS.
The residents can be heard cheering NMS Director General Badi who had accompanied Uhuru to launch the health facility.
A video expert with experience in covering political campaigns explained to Kenyans.co.ke that the fake video had inconsistencies in the tone and spirit of the address.
“In the real video, you can hear the Head of State engaging the cheerful crowd. His energy and tone are matching the crowd. However, in the fake video, you can hear that the jeering is not consistent.
“There is no reason the excited crowd could suddenly turn against him to heckle him,” the videographer stated.
With the advance in technology, some malicious individuals can manipulate videos to input or remove content to suit their agenda.
Social media users have often fallen prey, and even believed some false reports since they have limited knowledge on how to verify information reported to them.
In 2019, a cheeky Kenyan edited a video of President Uhuru’s speech to make it appear as though he was drunk by delaying the playback speed.
The clip was manipulated to slow down Uhuru's speech into a slur, the stereotypical sign of being drunk that oftentimes is used by doctors and the police as an indicator of a very drunk person.
This form of cyber propaganda was rampant during the 2017 elections, and with the 2022 General Elections close, one can only expect the distribution of fake news to escalate.
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