FALSE: Protestors Did Not Pull Down a Boda Boda Guy Transporting Eggs In Kawempe

Claim:

A WhatsApp user shared an X post with us claiming that a group of protestors in Kawempe pulled down a boda boda rider who was transporting eggs to the city.

This caption was accompanied by a video showing a boda boda and eggs that had fallen over, with several trays of eggs spilling onto the ground.

The post is dated July 23, 2024, the same day the March to Parliament protests were held in Uganda.

Research:

We confirmed that the video was taken in Uganda, based on the flag on the bodaboda and the language used, Luganda, a Ugandan dialect.

With the aid of Google Lens, we found results from social media and blog posts, as seen here and here, that led us to a TikTok post (archived link) dated July 5th, 2024, yet the claim we are debunking was shared on July 23rd, 2024.

We read comments on the post to gather clues about what happened and where the video was taken. Some comments suggested that the incident occurred in Kansanga, along the KCCA road, which is a different location from the one claimed.

**Photo**: *Screenshot of comments sharing clues about the incident and its location*.

Through the phone number on the account that posted this video, we conducted a phone interview with the person who posted the video, and he narrated, “The incident occurred near my workplace in Kansanga along KCCA road. A tricycle carrying eggs attempted to climb a hill on this road but failed, hence flipping over and spilling the eggs.”

According to our Google search, no violence was reported in the media during the anti-corruption March to Parliament protests, especially in the location stated in the claim.

The claim was shared by an X account using the name Kampala Journal (@kayemba_oj), the same name used by this other account with the handle (@kampalajournal) that has previously been flagged for spreading false information.

Verdict

False, the protesters did not pull down the boda guy transporting eggs in Kawempe. The video was recorded in Kansanga on July 5, 2024, not during the March to Parliament protests on July 23, 2024.

This fact-check post was produced by Debunk Media Initiative under the African Fact-Checking Incubator program, with support from PesaCheck, Code for Africa’s fact-checking initiative, and the African Fact-Checking Alliance (AFCA).

Reagan Kiyimba

2021 Africa Check Award-winning Fact-Checker, Media Challenge Initiative Fellow class of 2020, 2022 Code For Africa and International Fact-Checking Network Climate Change Fact-Checking Fellow, 360 Digital Sherlock, trained by the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab in open-source intelligence.