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What started as a routine presentation of findings turned into a heated exchange during a sitting of the National Assembly Committee on Health, where Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale clashed with MPs over the management of the Social Health Authority (SHA).
The meeting, which was intended to allow the committee to present its findings, enable the CS to respond, and then agree on recommendations, quickly devolved into a war of words after accusations flew across the room.
The tension began when CS Duale accused some committee members of a conflict of interest, claiming they owned health facilities that were attempting to shield themselves from scrutiny.
“I cannot be intimidated by a member. I come to answer questions in accordance with Article 153,” Duale said. “The member for Nandi has absolutely... She has the right to ask me questions and I will answer them. But she can’t intimidate me.”
But committee members pushed back.
Kitutu Chache South MP Anthony Kibagendi accused the CS of undermining the committee’s authority.
“We will not allow you to continue intimidating this committee. We will not allow it,” said Kibagendi.
"You and your friends are stealing from SHA," MP Antony Kibagendi tells CS Aden DualeVideo by Gloria Milimu pic.twitter.com/2u1tbJCUhv
— The Standard Digital (@StandardKenya) October 14, 2025Duale, visibly agitated, shot back, accusing some MPs of using the committee platform to “extort and blackmail” his ministry.
“I will not allow you to extort and blackmail the minister,” he said.
That remark set off a fierce confrontation.
“Who is extorting you? Who is extorting you? That nonsense is what you’ve been telling us out here. We will not allow it. This is rubbish. We will not allow you to extort,” Kibagendi responded.
At one point, Kibagendi also turned his frustration toward committee chair Dr James Nyikal, accusing him of failing to stand firm.
“And you, Honourable Nyikal, you are not living by your values. You are living by borrowed values,” he said.
The confrontation escalated further when Duale claimed that Kibagendi owned a hospital, suggesting a conflict of interest in the committee’s oversight role.
“Where? I don’t own a hospital, you can charge me, you can charge me! I don’t own a hospital,” Kibagendi fired back. “You are the people stealing from SHA. You and your friends are the thieves.”
The dramatic back-and-forth left the committee session in disarray, forcing Dr Nyikal to call for calm and Kibagendi to walk out.
The heated exchange overshadowed the earlier part of the meeting, where the committee had raised concerns about the state of health facilities under SHA.
Nyikal had earlier presented the committee’s findings from visits to ten hospitals, revealing systemic challenges including inconsistent reimbursements, unpaid claims and contradictions between the actual cost of care and SHA reimbursement rates.
Faith-based hospitals and oncology centers, the report noted, have been especially hard hit by delays and inadequate payments.
In his defense, Duale termed the committee’s report unfair and requested seven days to prepare a comprehensive written response.
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