IN SHORT: Several Facebook posts circulating in Kenya include what appears to be a screenshot of closed-circuit TV footage of a student attempting to siphon fuel from a generator, with the claim that this incident has led to the school's closure. But the image is likely AI-generated, and there is no evidence that such an incident took place.
A black-and-white image widely circulated on social media in Kenya appears to show closed-circuit television (CCTV) of a female student in a school uniform. She stands beside a large machine labelled "Mikano Generator", with a white bucket on the floor and a container in her hands.
The accompanying caption alleges that the student, from Kahuhia Girls High School, was attempting to siphon fuel and that the school was subsequently closed indefinitely. Kahuhia Girls is in Murang'a county, about 90 kilometres northeast of Nairobi.
The claim emerged amid heightened public concern about safety and discipline in Kenyan boarding schools, following a deadly fire at Utumishi Girls Academy on 28 May 2026, which killed 16 people and injured several others.
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Police launched an investigation into the cause of the fire and reviewed CCTV footage from the school as part of their inquiries. A number of students were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the arson.
Against this backdrop, claims about student misconduct and school safety have spread widely online, including the allegation about Kahuhia Girls.
This post has also been posted here and here, with some instances attracting hundreds of thousands of views. (Note: See more instances at the end of this report.)
But does the circulating image really show a student attempting to siphon fuel from a generator?
No evidence image was taken at Kahuhia girls high school
Several clues indicate that the image is not authentic.
First, the uniform shown in the image does not match that of Kahuhia. The student appears to be wearing a checkered skirt, while the school's uniform includes a plain dark-green skirt.
A closer inspection of the image also raises doubts about the authenticity of the claim.
The timestamp displayed on the image reads "05-21-2025 Wed 02:35:48", more than a year before the 2026 school incidents that social media users link it to. It is also suspicious that the date is written in the US convention - with the month before the date - rather than the international convention used in Kenya, where this date would usually be written "21-5-2025".
Further signs of AI use
The image also contains a number of visual anomalies associated with AI-generated content.
The person's hand appears distorted and merges unnaturally with the container they are holding. Some of the text on the generator is also blurred and difficult to read, with some letters appearing malformed. AI-generated images often struggle to accurately render hands, objects and text.
The logo on the generator in the image does not match the legitimate logo for the company, as seen on this generator. The authentic logo incorporates a distinct arrow in the design and does not include "generator" prominently.
The scene also appears almost cinematically staged, which suggests the prompting of an AI tool. Real footage tends to be more mundane or awkward and not perfectly framed. The security camera would have had to be mounted at almost eye level to capture this scene, rather than at a high vantage point, which is also unusual.
Furthermore, if the young woman has a jerry can in her hand to siphon the fuel into, why would she also be using a bucket? The generator also appears to be out in the open and not covered by a roof, which is not what would be expected at a school. All of these anomalies suggest AI generation.
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We also used Google's reverse image search and its "About this image" tool. The tool detected hidden digital watermarking and metadata identifying the image as "Made with Google AI". However, it is worth pointing out that two other AI chatbots, Claude and ChatGPT, did not identify the image as definitely AI-generated. AI tools are not always able to identify AI-generated content, and any verification using these tools should be used in conjunction with contextual clues.
Claims that the school was closed afterwards appeared to originate from Kenyan gossip news accounts. However, we found no reports of the alleged incident from credible news organisations, the school, police or other official sources.
Taken together, the evidence shows that the image was likely generated or manipulated using artificial intelligence, and there is no evidence that the image originated from Kahuhia Girls.
This claim was also posted here, here, here, here, here and here.
