The image is of Odinga and Heapay in 2022.
This Facebook post with an image, purportedly of Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga at a bilateral meeting with United Kingdom’s (UK) Minister for Armed Forces James Heappey in London in August 2023, is FALSE.
The post reads: “UK TOUR Prime Minister Raila Odinga today held a bilateral meeting with James Heapay the UK minister for Armed Forces in London UK.”
Odinga left Kenya for a one-week visit to the UK on 19 August 2023, reportedly for business, family time, and relaxation. There was no mention of him holding bilateral meetings during the visit.
A Google reverse image search established that the image predates Odinga’s August 2023 UK visit.
The opposition leader shared the image on his X (formerly Twitter) account in a 15 March 2022-dated post.
“The UK has been one of Kenya’s most loyal and dependable defense and security partners. We had a robust discussion on matters appertaining to security with a view of enhancing our ties moving into the future with their Minister for the Armed Forces @JSHeappey,” reads the text accompanying the image.
During the 2022 UK visit, Odinga met Heappey and reportedly discussed enhancing security collaboration between the two countries in the run-up to Kenya’s 2022 general elections.
PesaCheck has looked into a Facebook post with an image, supposedly of Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga in bilateral talks with United Kingdom’s (UK) Minister for Armed Forces James Heappey in London in August 2023, and finds it to be FALSE.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
Have you spotted what you think is fake or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.
This fact-check was written by PesaCheck fact-checker Peris Gachahi and edited by PesaCheck senior copy editor Cédrick Irakoze and acting chief copy editor Francis Mwaniki.
The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck managing editor Doreen Wainainah.
