Kenya’s former deputy leader Rigathi Gachagua was ousted in October 2024 after a bitter feud with President William Ruto. A TikTok post shared after Gachagua’s ouster claimed the two leaders had reunited and vowed to work together. This is not true: AFP Fact Check found that the images in the message were old, while the audio dates back to Ruto’s speech at the 2022 national prayer breakfast, in which he asked for forgiveness from Kenyans and his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta – and not Gachagua .
“Latest news..!!!! Ruto meets Gachagua, asking for forgiveness and promising to work together” and “Ruto reunites with Gachagua,” reads the text on one TikTok post published on October 25, 2024.
Screenshot of the fake post, taken on December 10, 2024
“To the great people of the Republic of Kenya, I know we did our best. We may not have done as much as you expected us to do,” Ruto says in the video clip.
“We haven’t been as united as we should have been. In some areas we have failed; we ask – and especially myself – I ask for your forgiveness. I also know that many people have hurt me along this journey.
The clip shows two photos of Ruto and Gachagua being cordial.
Strained political alliances
On October 17, 2024, the Kenyan Senate voted in favor to delete Gachagua, making him the first vice president to be removed in this manner since the impeachment introduced in the 2010 Kenyan Constitution (archived here And here).
The Kenyan president and his deputy fell out with the camps two years after taking office trade in barbs on accusations of treason (archived here).
As deputy president in the previous government, Ruto himself had one fall out with then President Kenyatta (archived here). Citing the humiliation of Kenyatta’s supporters, he said promised not to let his deputy at the time suffer the same fate if he were to be elected president in the 2022 elections (archived here).
Ruto and Gachagua met for the first time since the ouster event to commemorate the ordination and installation of Bishop Kimani Ndung’u in Embu County on November 16.
Gachagua sat among the crowd, but the couple said nothing. It was also the first time since Ruto’s swearing-in in September 2022 that he and Kenyatta shared a stage (archived here).
However, the TikTok post of the alleged reunion between the estranged Kenyan leaders is fake.
Unrelated images and audio
AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches and found news stories from October 2024 with the same images in the TikTok post.
“Kenyan President-elect William Ruto, left, and Rigathi Gachagua during the 2022 election season,” reads the caption below the photo of the two men shaking hands, which was featured in an October 18 Al Jazeera report . article (archived here).
The image of the duo holding their watches next to former second lady Dorcas Rigathi appeared in a story published on October 11, 2024 by The Kenya Times (archived here).
“President William Ruto and DP Rigathi Gachagua during Mashujaa Day Celebrations on October 20, 2023,” the caption reads.
Screenshots of the original images published by Al Jazeera (left) and The Kenya Times (right)
Using keywords from the audio, AFP Fact Check discovered it originated a speech Ruto gave during the 2022 national prayer breakfast (see from minute 2’18”; archived here).
Ruto was Kenyatta’s deputy at the time.
From 2’56,” Ruto asked for Kenyatta’s forgiveness during the speech.
“I also know that as Vice President I may not have lived up to the expectations of my boss, His Excellency the President, and my good friend, I ask for your forgiveness,” he said.
