Murder exposé stirs anger and pushes UK-Kenya relations to an all-time low

Kenya-UK relations were headed south this week as the National Assembly Defence and Foreign Relations Committee threatened to reject the renewal of the defence cooperation agreement between the two countries unless clear progress is made on the Agnes Wanjiru murder investigation.

Here’s a recap. Nine years ago, a young woman, Agnes Wanjiru, was murdered in Nanyuki. The main suspects were British soldiers in Laikipia on training, courtesy of a longstanding arrangement allows them to maintain a large training base in Nanyuki.

The Kenyan police conducted a fairly light investigation. The soldiers soon returned to the UK and everything stalled. Six years later, an inquest was held in Nanyuki that ended in November 2019. It found a murder had been committed, but nothing happened.

Then the Sunday Times published an interview with a soldier who claimed his colleague had not only confessed to the murder, but showed him the body. On the night the murder took place, they had been arrested by the Royal Military Police at the scene, since they were not supposed to have been at the hotel in the first place.

The news that the House team was taking a hard stance was warmly received in Laikipia. Everyone is frustrated that after nine years, nothing has been done. Even the 2019 inquest did not prompt tangible action. My own government immediately cancelled all official engagements with Batuk.

Ill-timed visit

The UK has maintained that this is a Kenya investigation. Faced with street protests on his ill-timed visit to the Nanyuki Batuk barracks on Wednesday, the UK minister for Armed Forces announced willingness to extradite the suspects should circumstances warrant that.

As pressure mounted, Kenya’s Inspector General of Police announced the reopening of the investigation. But the inquest file could not be located at the registry, prompting fears of more cover-up.

Such is the casualness of officialdom that Kenya’s ministries of Foreign Affairs as well an Interior were not aware of the UK minister’s visit to Laikipia. Odd because it is Foreign Affairs that clears such visits. Later they both claimed it was purely a Department of Defense affair. All this was happening a couple of months after a soldier was court-martialed for lifting a woman’s skirt at a mall. Unrelated, a Kenyan senator was charged with shooting a woman on the foot two weeks ago. 

First, justice must be done. Police must not only conclude the investigations quickly, but the perpetrators must face the full force of the law. Both on the Agnes Wanjiru case and the Joy Makena case.

Second, the rather unhelpful debate on the benefits of the military bases to the local economy must stop. It is callous, and condescending. No economic benefit can be equated to life. The cardinal role of any state is to protect life. A state that fails to do so loses legitimacy.

Third, the two governments must cooperate, not point fingers. Both have come off badly as the whole affairs stinks of cover-up.

The writer is the governor of Laikipia County. @NdirituMuriithi