Video allegedly showing Kenyan deputy president Gachagua castigating Luhya and Luo communities misleading
IN SHORT: A video allegedly showing Kenyan deputy president Rigathi Gachagua rebuking the Luhya and Luo communities is going viral on social media. But this misrepresents the DP's speech.
A video doing the rounds on Facebook and TikTok in Kenya shows Kenyan deputy president Rigathi Gachagua speaking at a function.
In the video, he is visibly irritated. The video has been edited to include text reading "'Sisi ndio tumekuweka kwa hiyo kiti!' GACHAGUA vomit fire ... Dp GACHAGUA message to LUHYAS and Luo communities", implying that he was criticising the two communities.
The Kiswahili phrase means, roughly: "We are the ones who put you in that seat!"
Luhya and Luo are communities in western Kenya. Gachagua is from the Mt Kenya region. "Mt Kenya", when used in a political context in the country, usually refers to the communities living in the central region of Kenya, specifically the Kikuyu, Meru and Embu.
The video has been viewed over 1.8 million times on Facebook. It was posted in September 2024 when discussions on whether or not to impeach Gachagua were fast gaining momentum.
Gachagua has sought to portray himself as the leader of Mt Kenya region but his critics have accused him of, among other things, dividing Kenyans on ethnic grounds, and want him out. He is now facing an impeachment trial. This video appears to portray him as inciting ethnic divisions.
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Kenyan politics has for a long time been based on ethnic affiliations, and this has brought ethnic conflicts. As such, there have been efforts to fight ethnic-based politics, especially during elections.
But is the video showing Gachagua reprimanding the Luhya and Luo communities? We checked.
Misleading caption
In the video, Gachagua speaks in Swahili. He says: "Wewe kwenu watu hawakuchagua president William Ruto na wewe umepewa kiti kubwa courtesy of our vote. Sisi ndo tulimpea rais amekuwa rais amekupatia kazi. Wewe umekuja hapa kuanza kutusi sisi na kuita watu ya mlima Kenya na Rigathi Gachagua wakabila. We enda kwenu utafute ile kura haikuwa ya William Ruto umletee."
This loosely translates as: "In your backyard, people did not vote for president William Ruto, yet you have been given a big position in government courtesy of our vote. We are the ones who voted him in. You've come here to insult us and to call people from Mt Kenya and myself tribalists. Go home and hunt for votes for William Ruto."
In the viral clip, he does not mention or appear to refer to either the Luhya or Luo communities.
Since the clip did not show the whole speech, we searched YouTube for the original video using the keywords "gachagua tells off critics."
We found it posted on 15 June. Gachagua was speaking in Kirinyaga county in the central region of Kenya. When we listened to the entire speech, we found he made no mention of either of the two communities. In fact, he appeared to address unnamed critics.
Subsequent local media reports about his speech also did not include any references to any specific ethnic community.
The video is wrongly captioned and is misleading.
