By Edwin Omariba Tumbo
On July 29, 2026, X user I am Chege shared a post with the caption alleging, “Aden Duale to Al Shabaab: If you want to bomb, bomb places like Machakos.” The post has garnered over 65K views on X and 747 reposts.
Background
Aden Duale is a politician from Garissa County who currently serves as Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Health. Garissa is in north-eastern Kenya and borders Somalia to the east.
Somalia is also home to the militant group al-Shabaab, which has been designated a terrorist organisation by several countries and international bodies, including the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union and the Kenyan government. The group has claimed responsibility for several major attacks in Kenya, including the 2013 Westgate shopping mall attack, the 2015 Garissa University attack and the 2019 DusitD2 complex attack in Nairobi.
Recently, Duale made remarks that were widely perceived as targeting the Kikuyu community.
Verification
Using this search operator, “Aden Duale to Al Shabaab: if you want to bomb, bomb places like Machakos site:nation.africa,” leads back to Thursday, April 10, 2014. At the time, Aden Duale was the Leader of the Majority Party in Parliament and the Member of Parliament for Garissa Township. He reportedly made the remarks during a rally in Eastleigh. Duale later defended his remarks, clarifying that he did not mean terrorists should attack Machakos. He claimed his point was that terrorists chose to hide within the dense population of Eastleigh. In contrast, if they went to Machakos, the residents would immediately expose them to law enforcement rather than harbour them.
From the findings, Piga Firimbi confirms that the alleged sentiments made by Aden Duale are not recent.
Verdict
The claim that is emerging in 2026 that Aden Duale told Al Shabaab to bomb places like Machakos if they feel like bombing a place is MISLEADING.
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