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British soldiers still paying for sex in Kenya, inquiry reveals [1]
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Date: 2025-08
British Army soldiers stationed in Kenya are still paying “vulnerable women” for sex, an internal service inquiry has confirmed, despite the military banning “transactional sex” in July 2022.
The report identified 35 allegations of troops stationed at the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) paying local women for sex between July 2022 and March 2025. Nine of these alleged incidents took place after the ban came into effect in November 2022.
The military redacted the number of proven instances from its report, suggesting that at least one soldier has been sanctioned for violating the ban. Soldiers who violate the army’s policy face an automatic discharge.
The findings raise questions about the Ministry of Defence’s failure to hold soldiers to account for paying for sex, and its lack of transparency about the situation. In October, the MoD released data to openDemocracy that said no soldiers had faced sanctions since the ban was introduced.
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The MoD also repeatedly refused to answer our Freedom of Information requests about the number of men investigated for paying for sex. The inquiry now proves this practice continues with impunity, as Kenyan campaigners and the family of Agnes Wanjiru, a 21-year-old sex worker who was allegedly killed by a British soldier in 2012, told us last year.
Reacting to the inquiry’s findings, Wanjiru’s niece, Esther Njoki, said that “no action is ever taken” against BATUK soldiers who commit sexual abuse and harassment. She added: “The report has recommendations, but we are not sure they will be followed.”
Some 238 soldiers told the inquiry that they knew of colleagues taking part “in any sexual activity with the local nationals in Kenya in exchange for money, favours or goods” since the ban.
Twenty-seven soldiers said they had had sex with local women, but that no transaction took place. The report’s authors highlighted that this was unlikely to be accurate, noting that at least three of the 27 said they had visited local brothels.
The authors warned that the military’s failure to properly investigate and prove allegations means soldiers “may take away the wrong messages, in particular that nothing is likely to happen to them if they breach the policy”.
They recommended that allegations of transactional sex be passed on to the Service Police, saying the practice “is harmful to vulnerable women”, in part due to a power imbalance between Kenyan women and British soldiers.
The report also recommended that soldiers receive more training about the ban during their annual behaviour training requirements before being deployed overseas. Currently, this includes only a “passing reference” to transactional sex.
This “is unlikely to have the training effect [...] we would wish to see,” the inquiry said, although it praised the leadership’s reminders about the ban once soldiers arrived at BATUK.
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[1] Url:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/british-army-soldiers-paying-for-sex-kenya-agnes-wanjiru-killed-inquiry/
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