An image showing President William Ruto shaking Radio Presenter Azziad Nasenya’s hand is doctored.
The image was widely shared by a section of Kenyans on social media in a manner that appeared to suggest it was real.
City Digest while sharing the image on social media stated: “Azziad is trending just because of shoes”.
@KOXnetizens while tweeting the image wrote “President William Ruto with Azziad Nasenya”.
Several other users on the X platform also shared the image with misleading captions.
However, the Star Factchecker scanned through the State House's Facebook page and established the original image was shared on the platform.
The purpose of Ruto’s visit being official, the State House often update images about the president’s activities during the day.
The original image shared by the State House verified Facebook Page on September 3, 2023, is that of President Ruto arriving at KICC ahead of the African Climate Summit during which he shook hands with Environment and Forestry CS Soipan Tuya who welcomed him to the venue.
The original image did not capture Azziad anywhere close to the two.
The African Climate Summit was held between September 4 to September 6 at KICC, Nairobi. President Ruto visited the venue to attend the Africa Youth Climate Assembly 2023.
CS Soipan was cut from the image and replaced with Azziad.
Azziad also reacted to the image in a manner that suggested she was downplaying its reality.
“Ai. Alah! But Why? Aki,” Azziad wrote when tweeting the image.
A scan through Azziad's Instagram page indicates that she once shared the image used in the editing of Ruto’s image with CS Tuya.
The Image shows that she was not with President William Ruto in the picture.
The Star Factcheck desk has debunked the image and can authoritatively say it was DOCTORED.
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).