The video is of Kindiki speaking to the local administration of Lamu County on 15 July 2023.
This X post accompanied by a video claiming that former Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has hit back at President William Ruto for firing him, is MISSING CONTEXT.
The same video was initially posted on TikTok with the caption: “See how Kinidki tells Ruto after firing all Cabinet Secretaries today.”
On the lower part of the screen, another caption read “Now Kindiki amerudi Upande wa wananchi” which translates to “Kindiki is now back to the citizens’ side.”
The post was shared on X on 14 July 2024, three days after President Ruto dismissed his cabinet except for his deputy and the Prime Cabinet Secretary.
This was after widespread protests across the country as Kenyan youth took to the streets to push for the rejection of the 2024 Finance Bill.
Moreover, the protestors expressed their concerns over the mismanagement of government resources, corruption, nepotism and misrepresentation in the parliament, forcing the president to dissolve his cabinet.
Ruto later named Kindiki as one of his 11 appointees for cabinet positions.
However, a Google lens reverse image search on a keyframe from the video led to a similar part of that video used on 16 July 2023 for a news broadcast by KBC. Although the actual part used on the claim clip was not captured in the news report, it established that the clip is not recent.
A subsequent review on the official YouTube channel of the former CS using the date used on the news broadcast, reveals that the video was originally posted on 15 June 2023 on his YouTube channel.
In the video, the former CS was speaking during his visit to Lamu County, where he held security and intelligence meetings with the local administration of Lamu County and Lamu West Sub-county.
In his speech from the original clip Kindiki was warning local administrators who were reluctant on duties that they would be sacked and not transferred to other workstations.
The video accompanying the X post was shared out of context and does not show Kindiki hitting back at Ruto for firing him. The last time the Kindiki made a public appearance was on 4 July 2024 during his interview on Citizen TV over the protests.
This fact-check was produced by Lake Region Bulletin, under the African Fact-Checking Incubator programme, with support from PesaCheck, Code for Africa’s fact-checking initiative, and the African Fact-Checking Alliance(AFCA).
