British soldiers still paying for sex in Kenya despite ban

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.

The MoD introduced the ban on transactional sex the year after the Sunday Times published allegations that a British soldier stationed in Kenya had murdered Wanjiru and dumped her body in a septic tank.

Njoki described her aunt to openDemocracy as "very cheerful". "She was a joker, she was funny, hard working," she added. "She was such a social person. Even now, if she was alive, she is who I would run to for help."

She warned that: "Nothing seems to have changed since the ban. The only thing that can change is punishing those who are culpable, starting with the murderer of my aunt."

While Labour defence secretary John Healey met Wanjiru's family in April this year, little progress has been made on bringing her suspected killer to justice or getting compensation for the family.

"Healey criticised the Conservatives for sitting on their hands; now he is sitting on his hands," Njoki said. "We feel that he used our family for political gain."

She believes the UK government could do much more and is now fundraising to travel to the UK later this year. "I want to show people that something is wrong, that nothing is happening in Agnes' case, that things are still the same," she said.

"We are asking for compensation but they say they can do nothing until the [Kenyan] criminal investigation is done," Nikoji added. The case was reopened in 2021, but "no progress is made on that", she said. "For 13 years we have been waiting, and still you want to keep us waiting."

Kelvin Kubai, a human rights lawyer in Nairobi, described the inquiry as "very welcome", but said transactional sex is just one way British soldiers sexually abuse Kenyan women. He represents mothers who say their children have been abandoned by fathers who return to the UK from BATUK, often to their own families.

"Local women are therefore left vulnerable and forced to raise kids on their own after their fathers are discharged from duty in Kenya," Kubai told openDemocracy. "In the past two years, we have documented 30 of these, mostly consensual, relationships but this is the tip of the iceberg.

"The most overarching challenge is men who sire children and avoid responsibility by taking advantage of absence of policy and mechanism to hold them to account."

General Sir Roly Walker, Chief of the General Staff confirmed the MoD would be implementing the report's recommendations in full, including with "new measures to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse. These include increasing the Army's ability to discharge people for engaging in transactional sex, a new and specific training programme placing an obligation on everyone in the Army to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse, and increasing our oversight and assurance measures to ensure this is being taken as seriously as it warrants." He also acknowledged how the report "sets out a number of areas where we've already taken action, which will help tackle sexual exploitation and make Kenyan women safer."

"There is absolutely no place for sexual exploitation and abuse by people in the British Army," Walker said. "It is at complete odds with what it means to be a British soldier. It preys on the vulnerable and benefits those who seek to profit from abuse and exploitation.

"The findings of the Service Inquiry I commissioned conclude that transactional sex is still happening in Kenya at a low to moderate level. It should not be happening at all.

"We are fully committed to preventing sexual exploitation in any form and will continue to listen, step up, and take action when we need to, including working with the other Services to learn lessons and share best practice across Defence".