Kenyan Opposition Party Wiper Doesn't Want to Join the Government - Viral Graphic Quoting Its Top Official Fabricated

13 March 2025
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Dancan Bwire

Kenyan opposition party Wiper doesn't want to join the government - viral graphic quoting its top official fabricated

IN SHORT: A graphic circulating on Facebook quotes the deputy chairperson of the Wiper Democratic Movement as saying the party would like to join Kenyan president William Ruto's government. But the graphic is fake.

A graphic circulating on Facebook in Kenya attributes a quote to Mutula Kilonzo Junior. He is the governor of Makueni county and deputy chairperson of the opposition Wiper Democratic Movement (WDM) party.

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In the quote, Kilonzo says the WDM wants to join Kenyan president William Ruto's "broad-based government" in exchange for support for its party leader Kalonzo Musyoka in the 2032 general election.

"If the Broad based govt is including everybody, Wiper also wants in. In exchange for Ruto's support for Kalonzo in 2032," the graphic reads.

It includes the logo and web address of the Standard, the online platform of a Kenyan newspaper with national reach.

After sustained anti-government protests in June and July 2024, Ruto sacked most of his cabinet members and later included members from the main opposition party, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), in his new cabinet. Ruto called this a "broad-based government".

The ODM is led by Raila Odinga. Ruto and Odinga's political relations have continued to improve since the cabinet reshuffle. On 7 March 2025, the two leaders signed a memorandum of understanding that appeared to formalise their political friendship.

Musyoka has been a stern critic of Ruto's government and has ruled out working with the president. Musyoka has announced that he will run for president in Kenya's 2027 general election.

The graphic also appears here and here.

But can it be trusted? We checked.

Fake graphic

The text in the graphic contains incorrectly placed or missing punctuation marks. Such would not come from a credible media outlet and is the first clue that it could be fake.

If Kilonzo had made such a statement, it would've been picked up by other news outlets. But we found no reports on it.

The Standard usually posts its graphics on its verified social media accounts, including Facebook and X. We scoured these accounts for the graphic in question and came up empty.

On 27 February, the WDM labelled it "fake news".

The graphic is fake and should be ignored.

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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