- The video, uploaded on YouTube on October 23, 2023, showed former President Uhuru interacting with Matiang’i.
- It defeats logic how Uhuru will visit Matiang’i then the former CS uses his speech time to describe who Magoha was and even celebrate his legacy.
A caption attached to video footage uploaded on the Mutembei TV YouTube account indicating that former President Uhuru Kenyatta visited his former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i is false.
The caption which appeared to portray a major event that had happened stated:
“Breaking News: Finally Former President Uhuru visits ex super CS Matiang’i in his home,” the Caption on YouTube read.
The video, uploaded on YouTube on October 23, 2023, showed former President Uhuru interacting with Matiang’i.
The Star Fact Checker has, however, established that the caption is misleading.
A visit by a former President to CS Matiang’i would have been a major news item owing to the duo's prominence in Kenya.
A search on the web to establish whether any credible media reported on the incident brings no results to that effect.
The search indicates that at no point in life has the former CS been reported to have been visited by Uhuru.
No other news outlet has reported that Uhuru visited Matiang’i, according to the search above, save for Mutembei TV.
The same video was uploaded by Mutembei TV 8 months ago, on February 8, 2023, with a similar caption indicating:
“Finally former president Uhuru Kenyatta visits former CS Matiangi after being arrested yesterday.”
A scan through Mutembei TV’s videos on YouTube leads one to the same video, Uploaded on January 31, 2023, with a caption saying:
“See what Uhuru does as he visits the family of the late CS Magoha!”
To establish how true the information is, a search on Uhuru visiting Magoha’s family brings several videos, from credible media houses, showing moments captured in the video uploaded by Mutembei TV.
One credible media house that shared the video is TV 47 which posted on its Facebook page on January 31, 2023, and captioned the video:
“Retired president Uhuru Kenyatta leads former CSs to visit Prof. George Magoha's family.”
When analysing the video for instance in Minute 4:40 (for one uploaded by Mutembei TV), a similar scene of Uhuru engaging Former CS Matiang’i is captured in minute 1.10 (for one uploaded by TV47).
TV47 being a credible media house, the Star fact-checker reports that the video was taken on January 31, 2023, when the former president visited the family of former education CS Geoge Magoha after he had been declared dead.
Minute 5:00 (of the video shared by Mutembei TV) captures CS Matiang’i paying a glowing tribute to Magoha, a testament that the video is when the leaders visited the late Magoha’s family and mourned with them.
It defeats logic how Uhuru will visit Matiang’i then the former CS uses his speech time to describe who Magoha was and even celebrate his legacy.
A simple search of Matiang’i eulogising Magoha brings results of videos from credible media houses such as Nation and Nairobi News showing Matiang’i giving the same speech as one captured in Mutembei TV video that had a misleading heading.
Media reports announced Magoha’s death on January 24, 2023.
It is during the meeting at Magoha’s Lavington home that Uhuru together with his former CSs condoled with the family
At the home were CS Matiang’i, Former Treasury CS Ukur Yattani, and Former ICT CS Joe Mucheru among others.
Magoha served as Education CS under President Uhuru.
The Fact Checker has debunked the video and can now authoritatively say it is not about Uhuru visiting the former CS Matiang’i but about Uhuru and his former CSs visiting the family of former Education CS George Magoha to sympathize with them after his death.
This fact check was published by The Star Factcheck desk with technical support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck newsdesk, through the African Fact-Checking Alliance (AFCA).