Kenya's Former President Kenyatta Arriving in London for Queen Elizabeth's Funeral? No, Photo From 2020

23 September 2022
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Tess Wandia

IN SHORT: The photo actually shows Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya's president from 2013 to 2022, arriving at a reception for heads of state during the 2020 UK-Africa Investment Summit in the UK.

A photo doing the rounds on Facebook shows former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta shaking hands with an unidentified man.

The caption reads: "Earlier today, President Uhuru Kenyatta arrived in London, United Kingdom, to attend the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II."

World leaders travelled to London ahead of the funeral of queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom on 19 September 2022, following her death on 8 September. A photo of African leaders in a bus, including Kenya's recently elected president William Ruto, has surfaced in the press. The bus provided by the UK government for the leaders attending the queen's burial sparked controversy and mirth in equal measure.

The photo of Kenyatta, with the claim, has also been shared here, here and here.

But is this really a photo of Kenyatta arriving in the UK ahead of queen Elizabeth's funeral? We checked.

Photo from 2020 UK-Africa Investment Summit in UK

A reverse image search led us to an article published by Kenyan media house Royal Media Services. In the article the photo of Kenyatta is captioned: "President Uhuru Kenyatta arrives for a reception for the Heads of State participating in the UK-Africa Investment Summit in London."

A Google search of the caption revealed a Twitter post from January 2020 by Statehouse Kenya.

"President Uhuru Kenyatta last evening attended a reception for the Heads of State participating in the UK-Africa Investment Summit in London," part of the tweet reads.

Included in the post is the photo doing rounds on Facebook.

The photo does not show Kenyatta in the UK for the queen's funeral in September 2022 but his arrival ahead of the 2020 UK-Africa Investment Summit in London.

Read the original story, with links and other resources.
Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. Twitter @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

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