Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has strongly pushed back against claims by former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, accusing him of avoiding evidence and resorting to ethnic claims.

In a statement posted on X on March 31, 2026, Duale said Gachagua had failed to back his accusations with proof, despite repeated challenges.

“When a man has evidence, he produces it. When he has only bigotry, he hides behind ethnic slurs,” Duale said.

He centred his response on a key demand: that Gachagua produce a CR12 document from the Business Registration Service. According to Duale, the document would clearly show the ownership of the company at the centre of the dispute.

“This single sheet of paper would instantly reveal the shareholders and directors… It would settle the matter definitively,” he said.

Duale argued that Gachagua’s refusal to provide the document raises questions about the claims.

“Yet Gachagua has refused. Why? Because the CR12 would expose his lies,” he added.

The Cabinet Secretary also addressed claims that he uses proxies to hold shares in firms linked to the Social Health Authority (SHA) system. He rejected suggestions that he is connected to the businessman Gachagua mentioned.

“His evidence? We are both Somali. That is it. That is the entire ‘proof,’” Duale said.

He described the claims as ethnic profiling and warned against linking business ownership to community identity.

“There are no ghosts. No proxies. Just Kenyan entrepreneurs who happen to share an ethnicity,” he said.

Duale defends tender process

Duale further stated that the company in question was incorporated in 2014, long before the current controversy. He added that the company’s shareholding is transparent and traceable through official records.

On the wider SHA tender, Duale said the process followed the law. He noted that the contract was awarded through a restricted tender approved by the National Treasury and reviewed by a committee before being upheld by the High Court.

“The tendering process… was not secret,” he said.

He acknowledged that the Auditor General flagged procedural issues but insisted that no court has found fraud or hidden ownership.

“These are administrative imperfections, not criminal conspiracies,” Duale said.

He also defended the involvement of a Safaricom-led consortium, which includes the company mentioned, saying the firms competed on merit for the Ksh104 billion healthcare digitisation contract.

Duale went further to accuse Gachagua of using divisive politics.

“This is the politics of a man who has learned that… the only way to build a coalition is to first burn down the bridges between communities,” he said.

The Cabinet Secretary maintained that any claims about his business interests can be verified through official channels. He challenged Gachagua to provide documents, trace financial flows and name specific entities instead of making public accusations.

“If I truly own shares… produce the documentation. Name the companies. Trace the money,” he said.

The exchange follows earlier remarks by Gachagua, who claimed that Duale holds a 17 per cent stake in a company linked to the SHA system and claimed there had been financial losses in the programme. Duale has consistently denied the claims and insists he can account for his dealings.