Amnesty slams Kenyan minister for dismissing BBC trafficking report

_____________________

Amnesty International on Friday condemned Kenya's interior minister for dismissing a BBC investigation into child sex trafficking in the country, calling it "an insult to survivors and a green light to traffickers".

Last week, BBC Africa Eye aired an expose documenting how teenage girls are trafficked for sex in Mai Mahiu, a key transit town in Kenya's Rift Valley, by women known as "madams".

Appearing before parliament on Wednesday, Kenya's interior minister Kipchumba Murkomen told legislators that a police investigation found that the British broadcaster's report was "fake because the people interviewed were not underage".

"It was a hoax, it was planned and executed in a manner to show that underage girls were going through sexual exploitation while in reality the people who were playing the game (the trafficked girls) knew they were not (underage)," Murkomen said, adding that interviewees were promised financial "sponsorship".

The House speaker, Moses Wetangula, also criticised the documentary, saying that it was meant to "besmirch the country".

Amnesty International Kenya's director Irungu Houghton denied the accusations and said that the minister's remarks "embolden the perpetrators of child sex trafficking and are a dangerous attempt to discredit and silence" journalism.

Kenyan police came under fire after the documentary revealed that they had not taken any action after the BBC submitted evidence to them in March, five months before the airing.

"This inaction is a shocking dereliction of duty and a blatant failure to uphold the state's responsibility to protect its most vulnerable citizens," Houghton said, while calling on the Kenyan police watchdog to launch its own investigations.

The BBC has defended the report, saying that those interviewed were not paid and were clearly identified as adults who were recounting their experiences as underage girls.

A 2024 Trafficking in Persons report by the US Department of State ranked Kenya as Tier 2, meaning the government does not fully comply with the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking but is making significant efforts.

In April, the BBC's "Blood Parliament" documentary, which identified security officers who shot and killed three unarmed protesters during Kenya's anti-tax protests in June 2024, also caused a stir online, with an MP calling for its licence to be withdrawn.