Gachagua claims Ksh3B bribe demand derailed BATUK training deal
By Kenneth Mwenda, July 26, 2026Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has claimed that a Ksh3 billion bribe demand by senior Kenyan officials forced the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) to cancel a major training exercise and move it elsewhere.
Speaking at a church service at St Teresa Catholic Church in Imenti Central, Meru County, on Sunday, July 26. 2026, the Democracy for Citizens Party leader said the National Assembly’s Defence and Foreign Relations Committee made the demand during talks to renew the defence agreement with the United Kingdom.
Gachagua named an MP who is part of the National Assembly’s Defence and Foreign Relations Committee as the key figure in the Ksh3 billion bribery demand.
“He is Ruto’s man. He told the British, ‘For us to renew the contract, we want three billion shillings,’” he said.
“Keep one billion for yourselves and take two billion to Ruto,” Gachagua claimed they said. He added that the money was meant for Ruto’s 2027 election campaign.
According to Gachagua, the British side rejected the request: “The British said, ‘No, we don’t want that. Three billion with no receipt? What is it for? What work is it for?’”
He said talks dragged on for nearly eight months before the British refused to pay.
Economic fears over BATUK
Gachagua warned of economic damage to Nanyuki, the town that has hosted BATUK for decades.
“This town of Nanyuki will die. We are going to lose that town. The British have said they cannot pay a bribe to William Ruto and Nelson Koech so that they can train our soldiers in Kenya, so that they can help us in counter-terrorism, so that there can be commercial activity in Nanyuki town, around the barracks,” he said.
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The UK Ministry of Defence confirmed it cancelled the exercise, which was due to bring about 1,500 soldiers from the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment to Laikipia between September and November 2026. A ministry statement said:
“It is with regret that the necessary licences required to allow training to take place in Laikipia later this year have not been forthcoming. As a result, the planned training will now be conducted at an alternative location outside Kenya.”
Some reports name Tanzania as the new site. BATUK’s permanent base at Nyati Barracks in Nanyuki remains open.
Koech has given a different account. In a BBC interview on July 23, 2026, he said the delay stems from human rights concerns raised by his committee.
“The human rights concerns have been issues of rape, issues of environmental degradation, issues of murder, you know, very serious allegations of murder, some that have been proven, some that are in progress, under investigation.”
He pointed to the 2012 killing of Agnes Wanjiru in Nanyuki as the main unresolved case. Kenyan authorities issued an arrest warrant for former British soldier Robert James Purkiss, who is fighting extradition in the UK.
“So the biggest issue has been runaway murder, and that is what we are trying to, as a committee, to make sure that there has to be accountability on the officers and troops that visit our country,” Koech said.
The previous defence agreement expired in October 2021 and has not been renewed. Koech and other MPs, including Laikipia East’s Mwangi Kiunjuri, insist any new deal must give Kenya clear jurisdiction over serious crimes committed by British personnel on Kenyan soil and secure greater benefits for local communities.
BATUK has operated in Kenya since the time of founding President Jomo Kenyatta. It supports joint training, including counter-terrorism work, and has long provided jobs and business for Nanyuki residents.