NCIC commissioner Jerusah Mwaathime speaking on Citizen TV on Monday night, August 3, 2026. /SCREENGRABTwo Cabinet Secretaries, a Member of Parliament and former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua have been summoned by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) over alleged hate speech.
NCIC Commissioner Jerusah Mwaathime said the commission has summoned Health CS Aden Duale, Public Service CS Geoffrey Ruku, Mukurweini MP John Kaguchia and Gachagua to record statements over remarks under investigation.
Speaking on Citizen TV on Monday night, Mwaathime said the four leaders are expected to start appearing before the commission from next week.
"I need to bring to the attention of the country that we have forwarded the file of the former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua to the ODPP because when we came in we found he had many cases at the commission but for some reason they had not progressed up to the ODPP level," she said.
She said the file had taken time to reach the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) because of the layered multi-agency investigations required before prosecution decisions can be made.
Mwaathime also revealed that the commission has completed investigations into Duale's alleged remarks and has formally summoned him.
"We have reached a certain stage of our investigation where now we are ready, and we have summoned Hon Duale, we have summoned CS Ruku, and we have also summoned Kaguchia, Mukurweini Member of Parliament. We usually give them 14 days and most of them will be appearing before us next week," she said.
She explained that the summons has taken time because of the extensive verification process involved in investigating alleged hate speech.
"Every investigation is different so some investigations might need a lot of digging, a lot of verification of clips, a lot of verification of data. We need to confirm, for example, if a clip is genuine, we need to confirm who is the originator, who recorded it and if it has been tampered with," she said.
Mwaathime dismissed claims that the commission was selective in the speed with which it handles cases, saying Kaguchia's matter progressed faster because much of the evidence had already been gathered.
She said the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) had already undertaken investigations into the matter and established sufficient grounds to proceed.
"For others, we need to get all this information from all these agencies before we can move but for most of them we have moved, and from next week you will be able to see these activities unfold," she said.
Mwaathime stressed that all the leaders summoned are legally required to appear before the commission.
"Now the law is very clear on that aspect. Summons issued by constitutional commissions and independent commissions, including NCIC, are supposed to be obeyed. They are the same as summons issued by the High Court," she said.
She warned that failure to honour the summons would trigger the issuance of arrest warrants.
"And so the legal effect is that when those summons are not honoured, then you issue warrants of arrest. Upon issuance of warrants of arrest, it means that the DCI, the police officers are basically supposed to arrest and bring them to the commission," she said.
Mwaathime insisted there must be consequences for leaders who ignore lawful summons.
"We cannot exist in a nation whereby the institutions that have been created by law are being flouted. We cannot exist in a society where the leadership of a country, who are supposed to give direction, can stand and say we cannot honour summons."
