Two years after taking office, Kenyan President William Ruto fell out with his former deputy Rigathi Gachagua, who was ousted in October 2024. A TikTok video shared days after Gacahagua’s removal claims Ruto is challenging him to contest the next presidential election in 2027. is planned. However, the claim is misleading; The clip was recorded in 2023 and shows Ruto talking about opposition leader Raila Odinga, and not Gachagua, who was still in power last year.
“If you have problems, let’s meet in 2027,” warns President Ruto Rigathi Gachagua,” reads an English and Swahili text overlay on a TikTok after which has been shared more than 1,900 times since it was published on October 26, 2024.
Screenshot of the misleading message, taken on December 2, 2024
While addressing a crowd, Ruto is heard telling an unnamed person in Swahili to stop disrespecting ordinary citizens and instead deal with him directly.
“Don’t waste my time,” Ruto said. “If you have problems, prepare for 2027. Let me work for the people. In 2027 I will be waiting for you and I know I will be very well prepared.”
The logo of Kenyan national broadcaster KBC is visible in the top right corner of the video, which is depicted as a live event taking place in the country of Kisii.
According to the video’s chyron, Ruto was addressing a crowd at “CS Machogu’s homecoming and thanksgiving ceremony”.
Ezekiel Machogu is a former Cabinet Secretary for Education from Kisii.
The claim was also published here on TikTok.
Leadership breakdown
Gachagua, who belonged to Ruto running size in the 2022 elections (archived here), wash dropped off on October 17, 2024, following a Senate decision to uphold five of the eleven charges against him, which are archived here).
Some of the charges include money laundering, corruption, incitement to violence along tribal lines and abuse of office.
Gachagua rejected the allegations and said they were neither substantiated nor supported by evidence. He then withdrew his request to halt the proceedings at the Supreme Court, in which he challenged his removal, arguing that the case had been overtaken by events (archived here).
The ouster was the culmination of a long struggle between the Ruto and Gachagua factions in the government. traded accusations of treason and acting in bad faith (archived here).
However, the video of Ruto throwing down the gauntlet has nothing to do with the events of 2024.
Odinga Challenge
Using keywords from Ruto’s address, AFP Fact Check found an extended version of the clip published on broadcaster NTV Kenya’s official YouTube channel on March 24, 2023 (archived here).
While Ruto did indeed speak during a tour of Kisii province, he referred to opposition leader Odinga in his speech, and not Gachagua.
Odinga had called for the entire country at the time demonstrations to force the government to lower the cost of living (archived here).
The TikTok clip omits the part of Ruto’s speech that mentions Odinga’s name.
“I would like to respectfully say to my friend, Mr. Raila Odinga, stop the arrogance. Stop the contempt for ordinary people… You have gone with violence… chaos and anarchy to visit ordinary people going about their business. If you have any problems, please contact me,” he says at 12:02 in the original video.
A side-by-side comparison of the TikTok clip and the footage published by NTV shows Ruto wearing the same clothes while standing in front of a brightly colored background.
Screenshots comparing NTV’s original footage (left) with the misleading video taken on December 2, 2024
The address was too covered by other local ones media points of sale at that time (archived here And here).
