Musalia Mudavadi video clip blaming energy cabinet secretary Opiyo Wandayi for power crisis is old and miscaptioned
IN SHORT: A video circulating on social media, claiming Kenya's prime cabinet secretary Musalia Mudavadi has called for Opiyo Wandayi's resignation, is misleading. The clip dates back to March 2021 and was aimed at the Uhuru Kenyatta administration over fuel price hikes. It's not related to the 2025 power crisis.
A 16-second video clip of Kenya's prime cabinet secretary, Musalia Mudavadi, has circulated widely on social media in November 2025. This followed president William Ruto's announcement that the national electricity distribution company, Kenya Power, was being forced to ration power in some areas.
The text accompanying the video reads: "BREAKING; Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has blamed Opiyo Wandayi for the ongoing crisis in the Ministry of Energy, citing mismanagement and poor leadership. Mudavadi has called for Wandayi's immediate resignation."
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Opiyo Wandayi is the cabinet secretary for energy and petroleum.
In the clip, Mudavadi is heard saying: "The Ministry of Energy has failed Kenyans and must take responsibility for this unpleasant situation. They must take cognisance of the fact that it is the ordinary citizen ..." The audio then cuts off.
On 4 November, Ruto said the government had been forced into daily load-shedding, cutting supply in some areas between 5 pm and 10 pm to keep the grid stable, while calling for big investments to expand capacity.
The energy ministry later moved to calm fears, saying Kenya had an adequate supply and the president's point was about accelerating generation for industrialisation.
The video has been used to suggest internal strife within the current United Democratic Alliance government and a call for resignation.
But does the video show Mudavadi blaming Wandayi and calling for his resignation? We checked.
Mudavadi speaking in 2021
We did a reverse image search on a keyframe from the video clip to determine its origin. The results showed that the video is not recent and the caption misattributes the target and context of Mudavadi's remarks.
The original video was shared on Mudavadi's own Facebook page on 15 March 2021. At the time, Mudavadi was the leader of the Amani National Congress and was commenting on the sharp increase in fuel prices under the Uhuru Kenyatta administration, not the current electricity crisis under Ruto.
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In the original video, Mudavadi's criticism was directed at the then ministry of energy and petroleum in the government of the day for the high fuel costs. The cabinet secretary for energy at the time was Charles Keter.
Wandayi was sworn into office on 8 August 2024. Mudavadi was not criticising Wandayi or calling for his resignation over something that took place three years before he took office.
There are no credible reports from mainstream media or official government channels to corroborate the claim that Mudavadi has called for the immediate resignation of Wandayi.
The video is an authentic clip of Mudavadi, but it has been stripped of its original context, repurposed, and falsely labelled to create misleading content.
