{"id":147993,"date":"2026-07-26T08:03:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T08:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/defiant-duale-refuses-to-apologise-over-controversial-remarks-as-backlash-intensifies\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T08:03:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T08:03:00","slug":"defiant-duale-refuses-to-apologise-over-controversial-remarks-as-backlash-intensifies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/defiant-duale-refuses-to-apologise-over-controversial-remarks-as-backlash-intensifies\/","title":{"rendered":"Defiant Duale refuses to apologise over controversial remarks as backlash intensifies"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 26 \u2014 Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has vowed he will not apologise for controversial remarks that have triggered a political storm and an investigation by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), insisting he will not retreat from his position despite mounting criticism.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking in Marsabit on Saturday, Duale dismissed the backlash over his comments, telling supporters to ignore criticism circulating on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not worry about the issues you are seeing on social media. I am not going to apologise. Do you expect me to back down from my stance?\u201d Duale said when he lresided over a resource mobilization event at Karare Primary School in Saku Constituency.<\/p>\n

In what appeared to be a veiled attack on former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, who had repeatedly claimed that communities which voted for President William Ruto deserved a greater \u201cshare\u201d of government, Duale argued that such rhetoric was more dangerous than his own remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause someone stood up and spoke about shares? There is no worse form of hate speech than someone standing up and declaring that another person has no share in this government and therefore will not get a job opportunity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The latest remarks signal that the Cabinet Secretary is standing by his position even as pressure mounts from political leaders and the NCIC over comments he made during a public event in Lafey Constituency, Mandera County.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Duale defended those earlier remarks, saying he had been widely misquoted and that critics had deliberately taken his words out of context to portray him as promoting ethnic division.<\/p>\n

He explained that a Somali proverb he used \u2014 \u201cWaraabe la-tagis bartay, ka-ridis waa ku dhib\u201d \u2014 was a common expression describing the difficulty of abandoning long-held habits and was never intended to target or demean any community.<\/p>\n

According to Duale, his message in Lafey was intended to promote inclusivity and equal opportunities for all Kenyans regardless of their ethnicity or region.<\/p>\n

He also accused critics of applying double standards, arguing that some leaders condemning him had remained silent when, according to him, inflammatory remarks targeting the Somali community were made in the past.<\/p>\n

The NCIC has since opened investigations following complaints that the Cabinet Secretary\u2019s remarks could amount to ethnic profiling and incitement.<\/p>\n

The commission said it had launched a thorough and impartial inquiry to establish whether the statements contravened Article 33 of the Constitution and Sections 13 and 62 of the National Cohesion and Integration Act.<\/p>\n

The controversy has drawn condemnation from leaders across the political divide, including Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru, who described the remarks as regrettable and urged Duale to apologise.<\/p>\n

The issue has also been debated in the Senate, where lawmakers cautioned political leaders against using rhetoric that could inflame ethnic tensions ahead of the 2027 General Election.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 26 \u2014 Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has vowed he will not apologise for controversial remarks that have triggered a political storm and an investigation by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), insisting he will not retreat from his position despite mounting criticism. Speaking in Marsabit on Saturday, Duale dismissed the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}