Associated Incidents
**IN SHORT: **A TikTok video appears to show Kenyatta announcing his return to politics and his intention to run for president in 2027. But the video is a fake, created using deepfake technology.
A TikTok clip shows former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta making a speech while standing at a lectern bearing the presidential standard.
In the 12-second video, he says: "Fellow Kenyans, in 2027 I will be vying for president. I have made a decision of coming back to politics in full force. Kindly, I would like to ask for your votes when the time comes."
The video also has a caption in Kiswahili slang that loosely translates to: "What's up, Uhuru? So, what is it you have decided?"
It has been viewed over 820,000 times at time of publication, with over 1,100 comments, 35,000 likes, and shared more than 2,300 times.
Kenyatta as president
Uhuru Kenyatta was the president of Kenya for two terms, from 2013 to 2022. His deputy William Ruto succeeded him. According to the Kenyan constitution, a president can only serve two terms.
While some legislators in Ruto's administration have advocated increasing, reducing or abolishing the term limit, none of the proposals have been passed.
During Kenyatta's second term, his relationship with Ruto deteriorated. Kenyatta reached out to his former political rival, former prime minister Raila Odinga, in a political deal known as the handshake.
Kenyatta subsequently backed Odinga's presidential bid against Ruto, urging his supporters to back Odinga instead of Ruto. Despite this, Ruto won the 2022 election with the support of much of Kenyatta's political base.
In 2024, following youth-led protests and Ruto's declining public support, Ruto appointed key Odinga allies to the government. This suggested a growing political relationship between the two.
Kenyatta's political base also seemed to shift back in his favour. Ruto began to mend fences with Kenyatta by appointing some of his allies to government positions.
This is the background to claims that Kenyatta will run for president in 2027. If true, this would raise serious constitutional concerns as Kenyatta has already served two terms.
But did Kenyatta make this controversial announcement? We checked.
Video a deepfake
On closer inspection, the video looks suspicious. Kenyatta is shown speaking at a presidential lectern, which is normally reserved for the sitting president. However, the colour of the lectern shown in the video is the blue used during Kenyatta's presidency. Ruto's lectern is yellow. This suggests that the video was made using footage from Kenyatta's time as president.
Given that keyword searches don't turn up any credible news of such a speech by Kenyatta, this is further evidence that the video is fabricated.
The voice and lip movement are quite realistic, suggesting it is a deepfake video. It must have been made by using old footage, such as from this speech, where Kenyatta is in an identical shirt and background, using deepfake technology to synchronise his lip movements with audio generated using artificial intelligence tools.
If Kenyatta had actually announced his intention to run in 2027, it would have been widely reported and debated. This has not happened.
The claim that Kenyatta has pledged to run for president again is false.