Laikipia County Woman Representative Jane Kagiri has provided an update on the pursuit of the British soldier accused of killing Agnes Wanjiru in 2012. In an interview with NTV on Monday, March 31, Kagiri said that the topic has reached the National Assembly Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations.
The committee would review the topic before signing a new Defence Corporation Agreement with the United Kingdom. According to Kagiri, this development resulted from the committee’s visit to the county for a public participation event attended by Wanjiru’s family prior to signing the agreement.
“We, as the leaders of Laikipia, had demanded from the committee that they have to bring this case as one of the requirements as we go into signing the new Defence Corporation Agreement between Kenya and the UK,” she revealed.
“The beauty about this case is that the Defence Corporation Agreement is actually approved in Parliament.”She continued: “So this time round we have put in a demand as Members of Parliament that the Agnes Wanjiru case must first be resolved for us to allow that corporation to continue.”
She went on to say that, while the presence of the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) in Nanyuki helped the local economy, Kenyans’ lives were more vital. During the discussions, the MP mentioned that the issue of the high number of mixed children born to local women and abandoned by their dads, who are British servicemen, was also under consideration.
“We cannot allow anybody to come from outside the country and treat our people just the way they want,” she declared.
The legislator expressed optimism that the new tactic will work to ensure justice is finally served 12 years later. She also stated that the group was advocating for the suspect’s repatriation and prosecution in Kenya, where the incident happened.
However, the foreign affairs department had stated that the matter needed to be handled in the UK. She noted that when the deal was debated in Parliament, 60% of the remarks were supportive of their stipulations.
In October 2021, the UK’s Sunday Times reported that four British soldiers had made a shocking discovery: one of their comrades had admitted to killing Wanjiru and putting her in a septic tank in Nanyuki. Although the British Royal Military Police pledged to accelerate the inquiry, the suspect is still free after 12 years.
