Laikipia Leaders Issue Ultimatum To UK: Respect Kenyan Courts Or Exit BATUK Base
Photo: Courtesy.
By Robert Mutasi
Pressure is mounting on the British Government after Laikipia political leaders, elders and rights groups issued a joint ultimatum over the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK), telling London to submit to Kenyan law or leave the country.
The row exploded after the UK Ministry of Defence announced last week that it had scrapped its September 2026 joint training exercise with the Kenya Defence Forces in Laikipia because Nairobi had failed to issue operational licences.
The cancellation has exposed deep cracks in the Kenya-UK Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA). While the agreement was signed in 2021, its full ratification has stalled in Parliament after an inquiry by the Departmental Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations, led by Nelson Koech, uncovered a trail of unresolved grievances in communities around BATUK bases in Nanyuki, Archers Post and Loldaiga.
At a heated public baraza in Nanyuki Sportsman’s Arms Hotel, affected families demanded that the new DCA must remove immunity for British soldiers.
“For 60 years BATUK has operated like a state within a state. They train here, they make money, but when our children are hurt, we are told to wait for justice in London. That era is over,” a Laikipia leader said.
The leaders laid out four conditions before any licence is renewed:
First, that any British soldier accused of murder, rape, assault or environmental crimes must be investigated and tried under Kenyan law.
Second, binding compensation and legal aid for victims, including the family of Agnes Wanjiru, the 21-year-old mother whose body was found in a septic tank at the Lions Court Hotel in 2012 after an evening with British soldiers.
Third, a mandatory quota for local youth in BATUK jobs, tenders and conservation projects, and protection of grazing lands during live firing exercises.
Fourth, independent Kenyan oversight of BATUK’s operations at Loldaiga Hills, where pastoralists accuse the army of leaving unexploded ordnance that has killed and maimed children and livestock.
Parliament’s report last August cited cases of sexual exploitation, harassment and environmental destruction. An internal British Army inquiry ordered in October 2024 after an ITV documentary also found that soldiers were still breaching the ban on engaging sex workers abroad despite Joint Service Publication 769.
BATUK, the British Army’s largest overseas training base, says its presence benefits both countries through joint counter-terrorism training with the KDF and over Sh1.5 billion in local spending annually.
But Laikipia leaders dismissed the figure as tokenism.
“The UK says ‘we are here at the invitation of Kenya.’ We are now telling them – respect the host’s laws or pack up. Kenya is a sovereign nation, not a colony,” the statement read.
The Ministry of Defence in Nairobi maintains that the defence pact remains intact and that talks with London on jurisdiction and accountability are ongoing.
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