Agnes Wanjiru's family locked out of Parliamentary session on BATUK inquiry

The family of Agnes Wanjiru, the Kenyan woman whose 2012 murder has been linked to British soldiers attached to the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK), was reportedly denied access to a Parliamentary session convened to deliberate on the long-running inquiry into the military unit's conduct.

The National Assembly's Departmental Committee on Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations met on June 10, 2026, to discuss findings and recommendations from its inquiry into BATUK.

However, proceedings were conducted behind closed doors despite expectations that the session would be open to the public.

According to information released by activists following the meeting, members of Wanjiru's family, accompanied by their lawyer, arrived at Parliament Buildings hoping to follow the proceedings but were turned away by security officers.

They reportedly received no formal communication from the committee explaining why they could not attend.

Speaking outside Parliament, Esther Njoki, a niece to Wanjiru and the family spokesperson, expressed frustration over what she described as years of discussions without meaningful action.

She urged authorities to move beyond meetings and deliver justice for victims linked to alleged BATUK abuses, including compensation for affected families.

“By last year November, we knew that the case would be heard in November this year, which is a whole year, and we’re not certain of the outcome of the court. We’ve been having talks with the UK government, but we’re still being faced with frustrations because even after they had an inquiry, we’re not seeing anything being implemented,” said Njoki.

Wanjiru, then a 21-year-old mother of a five-month-old baby, disappeared in Nanyuki in March 2012. Her body was discovered three months later in a septic tank near a hotel.

The case has since become one of the most prominent symbols of calls for accountability involving British troops stationed in Kenya.

In November last year, former British soldier Robert James Purkiss appeared before a court in the United Kingdom after being arrested in connection with the case.

Court proceedings heard allegations that he had previously admitted responsibility for Wanjiru's death to a colleague.

However, Kenya has continued to seek accountability in the case, while calls for extradition and prosecution have remained a subject of diplomatic and legal debate.

The Parliamentary inquiry has attracted significant public interest. On May 29, Committee Chairperson Nelson Koech told a visiting British Parliamentary delegation that the June 10 session would bring together officials from the Office of the Attorney General, the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and the British High Commission to help conclude the committee's report on BATUK.

Reports indicate that the decision to hold the session in private was made only days before the meeting. Critics argue that neither the public nor Wanjiru's family were informed of the change, despite expectations that key stakeholders would be involved in the deliberations.

Fourteen years after Wanjiru's death, no one has been convicted over the killing. Human rights campaigners and the victim's family have repeatedly accused authorities of failing to deliver justice, with concerns now being raised over the transparency of Parliament's inquiry process.