Kenya: Fake Graphic Falsely Quotes French President Saying Kenyans Are Badly Mannered

27 May 2026
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Dancan Bwire

Fake graphic falsely quotes French president saying Kenyans are badly mannered

IN SHORT: A graphic doing the rounds on Facebook quotes French president Emmanuel Macron as lashing out at Kenyans for being badly behaved. However, we found no evidence that he said so.

A graphic attributing controversial remarks to French president Emmanuel Macron is circulating on social media in Kenya.

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In the graphic, Macron appears to criticise Kenyans for being "ill mannered", suggesting that this is a result of having too much freedom and that he feels sorry for president William Ruto.

"Kenyans have bad behavior. I really feel sorry for President Ruto. If I were him, you wouldn't be enjoying all this freedom," the graphic quotes him as saying.

The graphic emerged during the Africa Forward Summit held in Nairobi in May 2026. The high-level summit brought together thousands of delegates in Nairobi under the theme "Africa-France Partnerships for Innovation and Growth".

It emerged moments after a video of Macron interrupting a speaker during the summit to demand silence from a noisy audience went viral.

The graphic has been posted widely, but can the quote be trusted? We checked.

Fabricated quote

Africa Check discovered that the claim originated from the Facebook page CB BUZZ, which has previously been the source of other fake graphics debunked by Africa Check. This is an early sign that the graphic and quote in question could also be fake.

Africa Check reviewed Macron's statement in which he was trying to silence the audience.

The visibly irritated president said:

Excuse me, everybody, hey, hey, hey. I'm sorry guys, but it is impossible to speak about culture and to have people like that super inspired coming here, making a speech with such a noise. This is a total lack of respect.I suggest that if you want to have bilateral or to speak about something else, you have bilateral rooms or you go outside. If you want to stay here, we listen to the people and we will play the same game. Thank you.

These were the only remarks reported by both local and international media outlets. Africa Check did not find any other critical remarks made by Macron targeting Kenyans.

All evidence indicates that the quote is false and should be disregarded.

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. X @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

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