A photo of Deputy President William Ruto enjoying roast maize from a street vendor in Narok has gone viral after a section of online users claimed that it was stage-managed.

The photo became a sensation after a Standard photojournalist, Denish Onyango, raised doubt about the authenticity of the man who was purportedly selling maize to the DP.

According to Onyango, the photo looked like a stage-managed scene given that the vendor had only a few maize combs for sale and his pocket had a protruding object that appeared to be a walkie-talkie.

"I am in doubt on how he's clad, you have seen maize roasters around and their dress code. Three, he's roasting very few maize only designed for PR photography. Four, he forgot to hide the antenna of his walkie-talkie. I would refuse to take pictures meant to hoodwink Kenyans on basis of one reaching down to people of all levels. This is a member of SWAT," the journalist claimed.

Numerous social media users picked up the photo with their own analysis that ranged from reasonable to the ridiculous.

The "online detectives" had varying explanations on the imagined "real" identity of the maize vendor.

Social media influencer Cyprian Nyakundi is one of those who jumped in on the debate with his post being shared widely on Twitter.

Here is what Kenyans had to say: