Kenya’s Parliament extends Batuk training licences for a year — Nation Kenya
Kenya’s Parliament has approved a conditional one-year extension of the training licences for the British Army Training Unit Kenya (Batuk), allowing British military personnel to continue training in Laikipia County. Lawmakers adopted the decision on Tuesday evening, setting a 12-month deadline for the UK government to address issues raised by the Kenyan Parliament, Nation Kenya reports.
Terms of the extension
The National Assembly’s Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committee recommended that the Ministry of Defence conditionally extend Batuk’s training licences for one year. In its third report on the Kenya-UK Defence Cooperation Agreement, the committee said this period should serve as a temporary mechanism for the substantive resolution of outstanding parliamentary resolutions and issues related to the agreement.
The committee’s deputy chairperson, North Mandera MP retired Major Bashir Abdullahi, said the extension makes it possible to preserve defence cooperation while setting a specific deadline for considering Parliament’s demands. According to him, the extended licences will cease to be valid if the unresolved issues are not settled within a year. Before this, the committee held three meetings with representatives of the ministries of defence and foreign affairs, the attorney general, and the UK minister of state for defence.
Jurisdiction and the Agnes Wanjiru case
Among Parliament’s demands is strengthening Kenya’s ability to hold British military personnel accused of crimes on Kenyan territory accountable. Molo MP Kimani Kuria said the country must secure greater jurisdiction in such cases.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Under the current agreement, certain serious crimes are not considered acts performed in the course of official duties, so Kenya has primary jurisdiction in the relevant cases. However, murder is not expressly included on this list, which may lead to a dispute over which country should prosecute the accused. Parliament insists on amendments to Articles 6(5) and 23 of the agreement to explicitly classify murder as a crime to be heard by Kenyan courts.
Lawmakers also demand that a corporate social responsibility component be added to Batuk’s activities. The death of Agnes Wanjiru in Nanyuki in 2012 remains a separate issue. Kinangop MP Kwenya Thuku said the committee received information from the UK High Commission about court proceedings involving a serviceman suspected of her murder.
History of the agreement
Batuk operates in Kenya under the Defence Cooperation Agreement ratified in 2016. The Cabinet Secretary for Defence submitted a new agreement to Parliament on September 6, 2021, but the 12th Parliament completed its term before approving it. The document was resubmitted to the 13th Parliament in November 2022, after which the committee recommended its ratification subject to amendments to Articles 6(5) and 23.
