The BBC is defending its investigation into child sexual exploitation in Maai Mahiu, Kenya, after Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen called it a “hoax” in Parliament.
On Wednesday, Mr Murkomen told lawmakers that the BBC Africa Eye documentary was fake because the people shown were not minors. He claimed the women in the secretly filmed footage were actually adults pretending to be children, which he said made the programme misleading.
He also accused the BBC of offering the women money to take part in the filming. And that the investigation was staged and aimed at misleading the public.
He further claimed the documentary unfairly damaged Kenya’s image, despite the government’s efforts to protect children and fight human trafficking.
In Parliament, Murkomen defended Kenya’s record on child protection, saying the country takes trafficking cases seriously. He added that the two women in the documentary, named Nyambura and Cheptoo, had not been found by police.
The BBC Responds
The BBC rejected all of Murkomen’s claims. It said the contributors were not underage at the time of filming but were speaking about abuse they suffered when they were children. The broadcaster also said that no one was paid, promised payment, or told what to say.
The Africa Eye investigation, released on 4 August, exposed how underage girls, as young as 13, were trafficked for sex in Maai Mahiu, a busy trucking town.
Two women were filmed admitting to selling minors to truck drivers. Nyambura described prostitution as a “cash crop” in the area and said children could be easily manipulated with sweets.
The BBC said it handed evidence to Kenyan police in March and followed up in April after showing them the footage. The ODPP later instructed the DCI to take action.
However, the women in the footage have not been arrested. The BBC also expressed concern that survivors in the documentary were questioned by police without legal representation. It stressed that none of the survivors were part of the undercover filming.
Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetang’ula supported Murkomen’s criticism, saying the documentary’s goal was to “besmirch” Kenya.
The exposé has been viewed over one million times on YouTube and has sparked debate about the seriousness of the problem and how it is being addressed.
By Vivian K.