The owners of Business Bay Square (BBS Mall) in Nairobi’s Eastleigh area have formally petitioned the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) to investigate and take action over remarks made by former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, which they argue amount to ethnic contempt, hate speech, and conduct that undermines national unity.
In a letter addressed to NCIC Chairperson Dr Samuel Kobia, the mall’s proprietors, through their lawyers MMA Advocates, allege that Gachagua made inflammatory and defamatory statements during a church service held on 4 January 2026 at AIPCA Kiratina Church in Githunguri, Kiambu County.
According to the complaint, Gachagua claimed that proceeds from a fraud scheme in Minnesota, United States, had been channelled into Kenya, invested in properties in Eastleigh, and used to construct a shopping mall. He further suggested that the alleged beneficiaries were connected to senior political figures and called on former US President Donald Trump to bypass formal extradition processes and arrest the individuals in Kenya.
While Gachagua did not explicitly name Business Bay Square, the mall’s owners contend that the references would reasonably be understood by the public as pointing to their property, given its prominence and location within Eastleigh. They argue that the remarks, made without evidence or due process, have caused serious reputational and commercial harm.
“Our clients do not object to public discussion of crime or matters of legitimate public concern,” the advocates note.
“Their objection is to the manner and framing of the remarks, and their foreseeable effect of imputing collective ethnic and commercial culpability.”
The complaint further argues that repeated references to Eastleigh amounted to a thinly veiled association of criminality with the Somali ethnic community and Somali-owned businesses, in violation of constitutional protections and the National Cohesion and Integration Act.
The mall owners cite Articles 27, 28, and 33 of the Constitution, which guarantee equality, dignity, and limit speech that amounts to hate speech, alongside Section 13 of the NCIC Act, which criminalises speech intended to incite ethnic hatred.
They warn that the statements risk damaging relationships with tenants, financiers, insurers, employees, and regulators, with the impact heightened by Gachagua’s status as a former holder of high constitutional office.
The proprietors are calling on the NCIC to conduct a full investigation, make a formal determination on whether the remarks constitute ethnic contempt or hate speech, issue appropriate censure, and refer the matter for prosecution where the legal threshold is met. They have also urged the Commission to caution media houses against the uncritical amplification of statements that may be divisive or capable of inciting ethnic hostility.
The letter concludes that the demand is made in the public interest, warning that any failure or delay by the Commission would raise concerns about the effective discharge of its constitutional and statutory mandate.
