Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga’s bid to become chair of the African Union (AU) is marred by misinformation. A viral TikTok post claimed that Odinga had given up his run for president so he could run in Kenya’s 2027 presidential election. But that claim is false; Odinga remains in the race for the AU as elections in Addis Ababa take place in February 2025. Last week he took his campaign to Ethiopia’s capital, where he unveiled his vision for the continent.
On October 24, 2024, a TikTok account shared an audio clip of Odinga speaking at a press conference.
“Listen to Raila Odinga’s powerful speech today about turning down a job in the AU to contest for the presidency in 2027,” reads a text overlay on the clip, which has been liked more than 8,700 times.
A screenshot of the fake message, taken on November 12, 2024
In the ten-minute recording, Odinga speaks about the challenges Africa faces and the need for countries to unite to tackle them.
“There are a lot of things we want to handle when we go there. I am a candidate, as I said, and I am happy that the Kenyan government has come forward to formally nominate me,” he said.
“As you have already been told, we have already submitted our application as required by the AU Secretariat. And from now on it’s all-system-go.”
The message contains a static image of Odinga taken from a television broadcast.
However, at no point in the clip does Odinga announce the end of his bid for the AU presidency.
Still in the race
A Google keyword search led us to an official YouTube channel affiliated with Odinga, where we found the same speech as the one in the TikTok post (archived here).
“Live: Joint press briefing on Raila’s AUC chairman bid,” reads the caption on the “Azimio TV” YouTube channel.
Azimio is the coalition of parties that Odinga represented during the 2022 elections, when he lost to President William Ruto in a close contest.
The joint briefing in Nairobi by Odinga and Kenyan Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi detailed the opposition leader’s bid for the AU chairmanship.
Odinga’s speech begins at 25’20” in the original video and matches word for word the audio in the misleading TikTok post.
A screenshot of the YouTube video also shows a similarity compared to the image in the fake message.
A screenshot comparing the fake TikTok post (left) to the original YouTube video
While responding to journalists’ questions during the briefing, Odinga said: “I’m not going to be very active in Kenyan politics.” He makes no mention of running for president in 2027.
The video was published on August 21, 2024 – about a week before Kenya officially launched Odinga’s candidacy in Nairobi (archived here).
On November 8, 2024, the veteran politician took his campaign to Ethiopia’s capital (archived here) – more than two weeks after the fake post claimed he had thrown in the towel.
The AU elections will take place in Addis Ababa in February 2025 (archived here).
Odinga, who hopes to succeed Moussa Faki Mahamat, is one of four candidates, including Djibouti Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf.
