Health CS Aden Duale has fired back at former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua over his recent statements linking President William Ruto to terrorism. Speaking inon Saturday, August 16, 2025, Duale accused Gachagua of insulting communities in northeastern Kenya and warned against using ethnicity to sow division.

“Kwa vile baba ya Uhuru hakulala Garisa, Wajir, Mandera, Marsabit, na Isiolo. Kwa vile Mzee Kibaki alilala tu Garisa. Na kwa vile Uhuru hakulala Wajir na Mandera, na Moi alilala tu Garisa. Kwa vile mweshimiwa President William Ruto amelala Mandera. Wewe unaskia unatuita sisi. Unatudharau. Unatuasia sisi ni wagaidi,” Duale said.

Addressing Gachagua directly, he added:

“I want to tell you Rigathi Gachagua. The days of entitlement are over. The days of entitlement that one community is more important than any other community is gone. It has gone after the new constitution. After the advent of devolution. We have a governor here with his ministers. Usijaribu kutukana jamii wa Somali na wa Islamu katika inchi. And we are telling anybody else. Anybody else. There is no superior community. There is no superior region. There is no superior religion here in Kenya.”

Gachagua remarks stir debate

The remarks by Duale follow Gachagua’s controversial statements in the United States, where he claimed that President Ruto met with three Al-Shabaab militia members and financed Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces. Gachagua said he would cooperate with the US Senate investigating the matter, but not with Kenya’s government, arguing that local police work under the President and could not investigate him objectively.

Gachagua’s statementsprompted sharp responses from Kenyan leaders and community groups. The Pastoralists Community Professional Association (PCPA) described his claims as “reckless and defamatory,” warning that linking Somali Kenyans to terrorism was “both false and dangerously divisive.”

PCPA secretary Yunis Ibrahim Sheikh noted that the claims revived a painful history of ethnic profiling, adding that for years, citizens in border counties were denied IDs, passports, and services under discriminatory vetting policies.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said Gachagua would be required to record a statement upon returning to Kenya, while Mandera Senator Ali Roba urged the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to take action. Both warned that Gachagua’s remarks threatened national unity and could undermine Kenya’s security reputation abroad.