“Take my toys, leave our daughters alone!” In a striking viral video, a Kenyan sex-shop owner films herself displaying intimate products while urging British soldiers to choose them instead of harming local women and girls. Her message is blunt: sex must always be consensual. She highlights safety, consent, and the prevention of pregnancies and abuse.
The video comes after a damning November 2025 parliamentary report that pointed to a “disturbing trend” of alleged sexual crimes, environmental damage, and a lack of accountability over decades. Tired of British soldiers preying on local women, the sex-shop owner offers an alternative: sex toys, delivered straight to the base. No more excuses. No more forced sexual encounters. “Sex must always be consensual,” she declares. Her video is going viral, funny on the surface, but rooted in desperation and pain. Many say: finally, someone is saying it out loud.
Why should Kenyans have to plead with foreign soldiers to stop abusing women and girls? It’s humiliating! This woman had to go on video showing sex toys like she’s marketing locally planted foodstuffs. Just so maybe, just maybe, soldiers serving would leave local girls alone. If toys keep even one soldier from harassing or worse, local women in Nanyuki, then sell them by the truckload. Kenyans have complained, demonstrated, and cried out over cases like Agnes Wanjiru’s, as repeated reports of alleged abuses surface, with little to no accountability. Many say nothing changes, and the base remains open to this day.
British troops initially arrived in Nanyuki for training, but critics say some now act with a sense of impunity, with allegations spanning decades, including criminal conduct, fathering children and leaving, with little visible accountability. Yes, the idea of sex toys is bold, but it shows how broken things are when a shop owner has to step in because authorities have failed to adequately protect local communities.
Communities in Laikipia and Samburu counties have reported killings and assaults allegedly involving British soldiers. Agnes Wanjiru’s family still waits for full justice after her 2012 murder; her body was found months later in a hotel septic tank. Herder Tilam Leresh was also shot dead that same year, yet no soldier was reported to have faced arrest or trial in connection with the case. Women fetching firewood or water have reported sexual attacks that are sometimes dismissed or mishandled by local authorities. Rangers and civilians alike have been injured or killed by unexploded ordnance left on training grounds.
Sexual-violence survivors from Samburu and Maasai communities have described attacks at knife-point, including the 1997 gang rape of dozens of women in their homes, while British personnel evade accountability and some cases have been dropped. Herders and residents also report fatal traffic incidents and public fights that leave families grieving without closure. Environmental fallout compounds the harm. Reports link training activities to toxic exposure, miscarriages, livestock deaths, and injuries to children from discarded munitions.
Local residents live with daily fear of BATUK soldiers’ misconduct. Observers point to patterns where investigations stall, with claims of interference, contested evidence, and diplomatic protections complicating accountability. Some communities now compare the military presence to a form of colonial-era imbalance. Justice remains difficult to secure, and critics argue that the current agreement with the UK needs big changes.
The brave sex-shop owner’s message highlights a painful truth: British soldiers must be held accountable for years of alleged abuse in Nanyuki. Her unusual idea could actually help protect local women and girls if it reduces harmful behaviour and reminds everyone that real intimacy requires consent.
In conclusion, the funny-but-not-funny approach might shame British soldiers into behaving or at least give girls one less threat on the street. It’s embarrassing to see fellow Africans suffer such a fate and why it has continued till date makes it even embarrassing.
If the efforts of this viral video reduces pregnancies, violence or instill fear in soldiers in the eyes of the international community for even just a little, then let BATUK take the money and run with it. Better than waiting forever for justice that never arrives.
– Manuel Bosong
Writer specializing in African affairs and international relations
BATUK’s ‘New Colonial Currency’: Viral Video Sparks Outrage in Kenya
