After Kenyan President William Ruto announced a crackdown on immigrant-owned small businesses in September, social media users circulated a video showing cars and shack-like structures engulfed in fire, claiming it shows Kenyans chasing foreign nationals out of the country. However, this is false; the blaze was reported as an accident and occurred in neighbouring Uganda.
“WATCH: Kenyans are burning cars and houses of foreign nationals in order to force them to leave,” reads an X post published on September 8, 2026.
The clip, with more than 840,000 views, shows cars and an informal structure on fire. People are seen trying to move nearby vehicles while a man films the chaos on his phone.
Screenshot of the false post on X, taken on September 14, 2026
The posts circulated after President William Ruto announced stricter enforcement of laws governing foreign nationals working and operating small businesses in Kenya on September 2, sparking xenophobic fears and drawing condemnation from human rights organisations and neighbouring countries (archived here, here and here).
Similar posts were shared elsewhere on X and Facebook.
Some on social media, however, rejected the false claim about the video.
“South Africans want this to be true so much that they are ignoring all posts by Kenyans correcting the misinformation,” read one reply to the X post.
“Will your platform survive when there’s no Afrophobia to fuel?” reads another response from an account that debunks misinformation on X. “Below is the correct information from a real journalist.”
The comment links to a post by Ugandan journalist Gabriel Buule published two days earlier on September 6, 2026. “Earlier today in Kitemu, someone who was burning rubbish ended up burning cars,” wrote Buule, who has more than 180,000 followers on X (archived here). Kitemu is a town in Uganda.
Uganda blaze
A reverse video search led to an X post with specific details about the fire’s location (archived here).
“Kitemu, in Kyengera Town Council, Wakiso District, just outside Kampala,” reads the post published on September 7, 2026, with a screenshot of the same incident.
“It happened yesterday, Sunday. A car park yard cleaner was burning rubbish inside the yard, and the fire jumped to the parked vehicles and motorcycles,” continues the post, adding that the fire destroyed “about 20-plus cars and bikes”.
Screenshot comparison of the false X post (left) with a post about a fire in Uganda, taken on September 14, 2026
On the same day, a Uganda-based Facebook post shared a longer version of the same clip with a caption in Luganda saying that the same person who had been burning rubbish caused the fire (archived here).
In the audio, people speaking Luganda can be heard shouting: “Oh my goodness, houses have caught fire here in Kitemu. Even vehicles are burning. More houses are catching fire and vehicles are also catching fire.”
A closer examination of the footage shows a Ugandan number plate on a white vehicle parked near the fire (archived here).
Screenshot taken from the longer video, highlighting a Ugandan number plate, taken on September 14, 2026
Contacted by AFP journalists in Uganda, Racheal Kawala, Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson, confirmed that the “fire incident happened in the area (Kitemu Kyengera) .”
Small business crackdown
Ruto’s directive came as parliament considers the Local Content Bill 2025, which would require foreign companies to source at least 60 percent of their goods domestically and ensure 80 percent Kenyan staffing (archived here).
While the East African Community (EAC) allows free movement within the bloc, Kenya’s trade minister on September 6 clarified that the visa-free entry policy implemented in 2024 does not automatically grant visitors the right to employment (archived here).
The following day, hundreds of Burundians, some of them street vendors, flocked to their embassy seeking border passes to return home. Kenyan authorities apologised for harassment linked to the crackdown and assured them they were safe (archived here).
Burundian nationals gather outside their embassy to apply for border passes in Nairobi, Kenya on September 7, 2026
SIMON MAINAAFP
Following the backlash, foreign workers were given 90 days to regularise their status, as Ruto reiterated that they would be treated fairly and in accordance with Kenyan law (archived here and here).
The false posts — spread mainly by South African accounts — fanned fears that Kenya could experience similar violence to that seen in South Africa (archived here). There, thousands of foreign nationals fled after anti-foreigner groups set a June 30 deadline for migrants to leave the country.