BATUK officials no-show in Parliament for grilling over atrocities

Senior officials from the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) failed to appear in Parliament on Tuesday to answer questions about the atrocities their soldiers have committed in the country.

The National Assembly Defence Committee was scheduled to meet BATUK officials and Defence Cabinet Secretary Soipan Tuya, but only the CS and her principal secretary, Patrick Mariru, showed up.

Tuya could not explain their absence, telling lawmakers that her ministry had done its part through the Foreign Affairs docket.

The committee’s chair, Nelson Koech, said they would give the British army officials another chance, but warned that they would declare them a hostile witness for failure to honour Tuesday’s summons.

“There are children born out of illegal relationships with British soldiers. This House was reluctant to pass the Defence Cooperation Agreement, so in the eyes of this committee, BATUK are hostile witnesses,” Koech said.

The term refers to an individual or entity that refuses to cooperate with a parliamentary committee investigating a matter by failing to provide evidence.

The committee can have them arrested and compelled to appear before it, or impose a fine.

BATUK, which has a training base in Nanyuki, Laikipia County, is under probe for alleged corruption, fraud and corruption, British soldiers’ torture, mistreatment and abuse of power, as well as killing.

At the centre of the case has been the 2012 killing of Agnes Wanjiru at a hotel in Nanyuki following a night out with a group of British soldiers. 

The 21-year-old woman was also raped, and her body was found dumped in a hotel septic tank two months after her disappearance.