FACT CHECK: Expressway photo is not of Kenyan road

A photo that has been circulating on Twitter claiming to be an express highway in Kenya is false.

The photo was last week posted by advocate of the High Court and member of the Law Society of Kenya Majimbo Georgiadis claiming it was an expressway in Kakamega, completed under the leadership of Governor Wycliffe Oparanya.

The photo was also tweeted by Kenya Traffic indicating it would be the model of the Gitaru Wangige bypass to Ndenderu Junction once complete.

But the Star’s fact-check desk found otherwise.

In the first instance, it is obvious that you keep left unless overtaking on Kenyan roads. Looking at the picture, it is seen that the oncoming traffic is coming from the left as opposed to the right.

Secondly, looking at the landscape, Kakamega county or Gitaru area does not have such a landscape, a fact supported by the vegetation along the road.

Thirdly, on Kenyan highways, signage is always placed on the left of the highway for the warning signs and above for the informative signs. In this photo, the signage is placed on the right.

Using Google search tools, we established the road is a Polish expressway in Bielsko-Biała.

The 38.2km Expressway S52 is under construction in Poland, which is located in the Silesian and Lesser Poland voivodeships. 

Upon completion, it will connect the border of the Czech Republic in Cieszyn-Boguszowice along with the Expressway R48 in the Czech Republic with Kraków.

The photo has, however, been used widely on reporting on the construction of the $751.2 million transnational highway between Kenya and Tanzania.

This story was produced by The Star in partnership with Code for Africa’s iLAB data journalism programme, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.