Kenya’s new deputy leader Kithure Kindiki fueled rumors of a possible rift with the president after missing the meeting.Where major events in December 2024. Kindiki dismissed the accusations when he reappeared in public in January, but online users continued to speculate about the reasons for Kindiki’s absence. TikTok users shared a clip claiming it showed Kindiki criticizes President William Ruto’s aide, Farouk Kibet. But that claim is incorrect: the images show Kindiki addressing his predecessor Rigathi Gachagua, who was deposed in October.
“DP Kindiki lectures to Faruk Kibet,” reads one TikTok post published on January 5, 2025.
Screenshot of the fake message, taken on January 14, 2024
The clip shows a photo of Farouk Kibet, a long-standing personal assistant to Ruto (archived here).
“I’ve seen people here trying to teach us our work. We know our jobs. We are very clear, we know what the task is. The leaders you see here, some are very young, but they are very clear about what their people need. And they have a road map to solve the problems of their people,” Kindiki says in the clip, partly in Swahili.
“Your headache as a leader should be what can I do, now that I have this opportunity, for the people. Not just sitting around aimlessly. Some see the way we talk and think we are cowards.”
The claim was echoed by other TikTok accounts including here.
Screenshot of the fake message, taken on January 14, 2025
‘Let’s respect each other, old man. Kindiki gives Farouk Kibet a heavy blow after being beaten,” reads a text over the images.
A logo of a digital news channel kenyans.co.ke is visible in the upper right corner of the clip (archived here).
Missing in action
Kindiki was sworn as Vice President of Kenya on November 1, 2024 (archived here). This followed that of Gachagua impeachment the previous month, which marked the culmination of a prolonged period fall out between him and Ruto after two years in office (archived here And here).
The new vice president was noticeably absent from several events Ruto attended since December 20. This drew parallels with the early signs of disagreement between Gachagua and Ruto (archived here).
Kindiki, for example, was missing from Ruto at the time hosted Ghanaian President-elect John Dramani Mahama and outgoing African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki at his home in Kilgoris on December 24, 2024 (archived here).
He also failed to show up at a cultural festival organized by opposition leader Raila Odinga and attended by Ruto and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on January 2, 2024 (archived here).
Kindiki resurfaced on January 4, 2024 during a wedding ceremony in Kiambu Province, where he expelled rumors of a rift within the presidency. He urged Kenyans to ignore the rumors and said he had been on holiday (archived here).
“My vacation is coming to an end and so I have to enjoy what is left,” he said. “Ignore everything else. Don’t fall into the trap of trivialities… I am happy that His Excellency the President has given me a few days off, I feel so energetic.”
Gachagua warning
Using keywords from the clips, AFP Fact Check discovered that the images in the misleading messages came from a speech Kindik gave at a church in Embu province on January 5, 2024.
Kenyan broadcaster NTV reported that Vice President Gachagua and his allies warned against what he called the incitement of Kenyans against the government (archived here).
In his speech, Kindiki also accused Gachagua of sowing division among residents of the Mount Kenya region instead of offering practical solutions to their problems.
This followed Gachagua’s visit to the province two days earlier, where he called Embu leaders for their silence on the recent wave of kidnappings in the country (archived here And here).
Other local media outlets too reported at Kindiki’s address, including here and here (archived here And here).
Kenyans.co.ke published the video on their official Instagram account on January 5, 2024 (archived here).
Contrary to what the TikTok post claims, Kibet is not mentioned
