IN SHORT: In a video circulating on social media, US president Donald Trump apparently says he wants to buy land in western Kenya to grow "misheveve", or pumpkin leaves. However, the video is fake.
"Trumpp set to buy land in Kenya," reads the text on a video circulating on Instagram and TikTok.
It shows US president Donald Trump in the Oval Office saying that he wants to buy land in Vihiga, a county in western Kenya.
In the 10-second clip, Trump can be heard saying: "I would like to buy some land in Kenya in a place called Vihiga. I want to plant misheveve there. I heard misheveve has a big market in Kenya."
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The video has received over 10,000 likes across Instagram and TikTok. The comments indicate that some users believe the video is legit.
The context
"Misheveve" is a Luhya word for pumpkin leaves, a vegetable often eaten in rural Kenya. The Luhya are one of Kenya's ethnic groups.
The vegetable became popular after a viral clip of a chief describing a man who attacked his parents for serving him misheveve instead of his preferred dinner.
Trump has a history of making unexpected or unusual statements. Examples include the nicknames he gives people, joking that he wants to be the next pope, suggesting that the US should buy Greenland and proposing that Canada should become a state in the US. Because of this, some people might think that this is another one of Trump's pronouncements.
The video claims that Trump has picked up on the viral word and even announced a plan to buy land in Kenya to plant the vegetable. But is this true? We checked.
The video is fake
There are no credible videos, news reports or official statements showing that Trump ever talked about buying land in Kenya or mentioned misheveve.
If Trump had said this, given that the video was filmed in the Oval Office, the official footage would have been easily available, and it would have received widespread media coverage. However, there is no evidence to support the claim.
A combination of keyword and reverse image searches reveals that the video is most likely from Trump's news conference at the White House on 13 February 2025.
However, a closer look reveals minor inconsistencies around the lips. This suggests digital tools were used to make it appear and sound as if Trump had said those words when he did not. This was probably achieved by taking a section of the original footage, processing it with artificial intelligence tools that mimic Trump's voice and manipulating the lip movements in the video to match the new words.
Together with the lack of credible supporting evidence for such a statement from Trump, this strongly indicates that the video is deepfake.
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The video capitalises on the current online popularity of the word misheveve for comedic or entertainment purposes. But it can still be misleading to viewers.
Many other Trump fakes targeting the African audience have previously appeared and been debunked.
