No, priest's sermon calling out 'thieves' did not target Kenyan president Ruto
This viral video circulating on social media appears to show a Catholic priest delivering a sermon with Kenyan president William Ruto in the congregation.
The 34-second clip shows the priest making pointed remarks about thieves. The footage then cuts to the audience, which includes Ruto in the front row and several people in clerical garb behind him. They appear to be listening attentively to the sermon.
In the video, the priest reads part of a Bible verse and says: "If you are a thief, quit stealing. Use your hands for hard work, then give to others in need. This verse is for the thieves, especially those in this mass."
At this point, the video shows a close-up of Ruto and the audience, who appear to be fidgeting uncomfortably at this message. The priest then asks in Kiswahili: "Have you heard, thieves? Are there thieves here? Why are you looking at me suspiciously?"
The video clip has been widely shared across social media platforms in Kenya. It has even been reposted by top politicians here. In total, it has been viewed over a million times and has received a great deal of engagement.
But is the video authentic? We checked.
Public perception of corruption
A number of Kenyan presidents have seen their governments fall foul of allegations of corruption, including Ruto's.
This perception has also been reflected in the conversation around the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project's most corrupt person of the year "award" for 2024.
A reverse image search of a screenshot of the priest in the video identifies him as Father Charles Kinyua, who regularly posts sermons online.
A search of his YouTube page reveals this recently uploaded livestream, in which he says the words in the viral video at around the one-hour mark. The livestream doesn't show the audience, so there is no visual confirmation of Ruto.
But if the president and that many church leaders had attended, the priest would likely have posted about it on his social media, which he hasn't. Instead, he posted a 68-second part of his sermon on his TikTok page, clarifying: "This is what I said in the original version."
A reverse image search of another screenshot of the part of the video showing Ruto and the church leaders in the audience leads to this video.
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It was uploaded on 29 June, when Ruto hosted church leaders at State House, the presidential residence in the capital Nairobi. The audience arrangement, reactions and the background are identical to parts of the audience in the suspicious video, as seen from minute 7:05 to 7:15.
It's clear from the audio that the voice and message during these reactions are not from Kinyua's sermon, as the viral video implies.
The viral video was edited by combining the footage of the priest's sermon with separate footage of the State House event, creating the false impression that the priest was addressing the audience at the State House event during his sermon.
Media outlets mark graphic 'fake'
A graphic captioned as a breaking news alert from the popular Kenyan news website Tuko also made the rounds online, claiming that Kinyua had been summoned by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). The DCI is the branch of the Kenyan police that investigates serious crime.
It read: "Father Charles Kinyua summoned by DCI over accusations of disparaging president Ruto in viral sermon on thieves." The graphic was shared widely, including here and here.
But on their X page, Tuko flagged a blurred-out version of the post as "fake", noting: "If it's not on our verified social media platforms, it's not from us." Additionally, on 13 October, DCI Kenya's verified X page also flagged the graphic as "fake news".
