No! Kenyan government official did not threaten Larry Madowo on TV

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POPULAR Nigerian blog, Instablog9ja, on Thursday, 26th August 2021, posted on its Instagram page a viral video that claimed that a Kenyan government official chided CNN Journalist, Larry Madowo.

The same video was also posted on several YouTube channels albeit with slightly different claims. While Instablog9ja claimed the interviewee was a Kenyan government official, most of the YouTube videos say it was a Ugandan government official.

In the video, Larry Madowo asked his interviewee, “You said that everybody is free in Uganda and yet you, as Internal affairs minister in March, presented a list of 177 people who are under military detention to the parliament and later President Museveni said at least 50 people have been arrested for a treasonable act of opposition, is this the sign of freedom to you.”

The interviewee, a young man (later identified as Mungai Wamutego) with dark afro-like hair veered away from the question and accused Madowo of speaking to a government official without decorum.

“Where you come from, you know you don’t ask such questions to the government. So, I will give you another chance, Larry, please rephrase your questions and ask with a bit of decorum now that you know you are addressing a government official,” the interviewee answered in the video.

Larry, in the video, immediately went further with the questions.

The video, now deleted on Instablog9ja, had garnered over 600,000 views from its over 3.7million Instagram followers.

Though Instablog9ja deleted the video on both its Instagram and Facebook pages, it is still on its Twitter handle @instablog9ja as archived here. However, the video has resurfaced on various YouTube channels days later.

 

THE CLAIM

Kenyan government official chided CNN journalist, Larry Madowo, during a live interview.

 

THE FINDINGS

A quick search on Google and CNN website showed that Larry Madowo did had an interview with Uganda’s Foreign Minister, General Jeje Odongo on Tuesday, 24th August 2021.

Screenshot of the original CNN footage showing Ugandan foreign minister, General Jeje Odongo.

However, unlike a young man with dark afro-like hair, Larry’s interviewee and Uganda’s Foreign Minister is a bald man and quite bulky than the purported interviewee. The only thing related in both videos is Larry Madowo and his questions – the answers and interviewee were altered.

Responding to Larry’s questions, General Odongo said: “I think let’s get our facts correct, it is true a number of individuals were arrested because of disobeying the standard operating procedures…”

The interview however continued on CNN’s The Exchange television programme, where Madowo asked further questions relating to accusations of human rights violations levelled against the Ugandan government.

 

Where did the video come from?

The video was created by Mungai Wamutego, who himself was the interviewee in the doctored version, and posted across his social media pages.

On Facebook, he captions it “No one will show you this! I had an interview with CNN’s Larry Madowo today on The Exchange and am sure he learnt a thing or two about tree zones and what constitutes the constitution. It’s not easy representing the government. #mdimbly”.

On Wamutego’s Twitter page, the Video has recorded almost 300,000 views.

According to his Social Media profiles, Wamutego is a Content Creator, Digital Strategist and Agronomist.

 

VERDICT

The claim is FALSE. No! Kenya government official did not threaten Larry Madowo. The video was doctored to remove visuals of the Ugandan foreign minister and his audio responses from the footage.

 

 

* Qosim Suleiman was a 2020 Fact-Checking Fellow with Dubawa, PTCIJ.

Qosim Suleiman
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