Parliament Dismisses Gachagua’s Sh3 Billion Bribe Claim Over Stalled Kenya-UK Defence Deal
“The committee has taken BATUK round in circles for eight months. They have now cancelled the contract and taken it to Tanzania,” he said.
Photo: Courtesy.
By Robert Mutasi
Parliament has pushed back against claims by former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua that corruption in the National Assembly led to the United Kingdom suspending military training in Kenya and shifting operations to Tanzania.
The dispute centres on the stalled renewal of the Kenya-UK Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA), which governs the operations of the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) based in Nanyuki.
Speaking during a church service at St. Teresa Catholic Church in Imenti Central Constituency, Meru County on Sunday, Gachagua alleged that the National Assembly Committee on Defence and Foreign Affairs had demanded Sh3 billion as a kickback to approve the renewal of the pact.
Gachagua claimed the alleged bribery demand had frustrated the British and forced them to relocate.
“The committee has taken BATUK round in circles for eight months. They have now cancelled the contract and taken it to Tanzania,” he said.
He warned that the impasse was hurting local livelihoods and national security.
“In Nanyuki, there is BATUK. It has been there during the time of Kenyatta, Moi, Kibaki and Uhuru. It benefits the people, trains our officers, supports counter-terrorism and employs more than 500 locals. It helps grow the economy in Nanyuki town,” Gachagua said. “Our country has a problem. There is too much corruption.”
His remarks followed confirmation by the UK Ministry of Defence that a major military exercise scheduled for Laikipia in September will no longer take place in Kenya.
“It is with regret that the necessary licences required to allow training to take place in Laikipia later this year have not been forthcoming. As a result, the planned training will now be conducted at an alternative location outside Kenya,” a UK Ministry of Defence spokesperson said.
The ministry, however, insisted it remains committed to its long-standing defence partnership with Kenya and to the continued presence of BATUK in the country.
“We will continue to engage closely with the Kenyan government to support the resumption of training in country at the earliest appropriate opportunity,” the spokesperson added.
But Parliament, through Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Nelson Koech, has dismissed Gachagua’s bribery allegation as unfounded and misleading.
Koech said ratification of treaties and international agreements is a function of the executive, not Parliament, and that the real stumbling block in the negotiations has been legal jurisdiction over British personnel.
“The point of contention is well known and long-standing: it concerns legal jurisdiction over British Personnel, the question of immunity and the accountability mechanisms governing the presence of foreign forces on Kenyan soil,” Koech stated.
The committee has recommended approval of the revised agreement but with a firm condition that serious offences, including murder, committed by British soldiers in Kenya should be tried in Kenyan courts.
“We insist murder must be tried here. It is really an issue of jurisdiction,” Koech said.
The delay stems from the Kenya-UK Defence Cooperation Agreement which expired in October 2021. Negotiations since then have been heavily influenced by the unresolved case of Agnes Wanjiru, whose body was found in a septic tank in Nanyuki in 2012.
Former British soldier Robert James Purkiss was arrested in the United Kingdom in November 2025 and is contesting extradition to Kenya over the murder charge, which he denies. The case has intensified public pressure in Laikipia and Nanyuki for stronger accountability provisions in the new pact.
Beyond the defence issue, Gachagua used the Meru platform to launch a fresh political attack on President William Ruto, accusing him of attempting to divide the Mt Kenya region.
“Mt Kenya has no boundaries. Kikuyu, Embu, Meru and Tharaka Nithi are one people. Dividing the mountain is like trying to cut a Mugumo tree using a razor blade,” he said, vowing to counter every presidential visit to the region ahead of the 2027 General Election.
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