The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has denied claims that its documentary on child sexual exploitation in Mai Mahiu was fabricated, defending the investigation as legitimate journalism.
In a statement released on Thursday, August 14, the BBC maintained that its Africa Eye investigation, ‘Madams: Exposing Kenya's Child Sex Trade,’ was an important piece of public interest journalism that documents the exploitation of children in the Kenyan sex trade.
The broadcaster dismissed allegations that questioned the legitimacy of the contributors featured in the documentary, faulting law enforcers for examining the sources without representation.
"We note with concern that following the broadcast of the film, survivors of childhood sexual abuse who contributed to the film were interviewed at length by investigators from the Kenya Directorate of Criminal Investigations without the presence of legal representation,” the statement read.
The BBC clarified the nature of its investigation, explaining that none of the contributors featured in the film were paid, offered payment, or 'coached' in any way.
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"As clearly stated in the film, the survivors of abuse who were interviewed were all over 18 and recounted experiences of abuse that occurred when they were underage. We are thankful to the survivors for their brave contributions,” the statement added.
The corporation revealed that it had cooperated with Kenyan authorities from the start of its investigation.
"As detailed in the film, we originally handed the evidence gathered during the investigation to the Kenya police in March 2025 in which perpetrators of crimes against children were clearly identified, as were the victims who were in need of urgent assistance," the statement read.
The statement comes after Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen dismissed the BBC documentary as a "hoax" during remarks on Wednesday, August 13.
Murkomen claimed government investigations had determined that individuals featured in the documentary were not minors as portrayed in the report.
He alleged that the documentary was deliberately staged to create false impressions of widespread sexual abuse of children in the Mai Mahiu area.
"We are confirming that the entire report was fake because the people who were interviewed are not underage," Murkomen stated. “The documentary was planned and executed in a manner to portray that there were underage girls who were going through sexual exploitation, while in reality, the people knew that they were not."
The Cabinet Secretary acknowledged that cases of sexual exploitation involving young people exist in Kenya, but maintained that the specific allegations in the BBC report were untrue.
The BBC Africa Eye documentary brought attention to the alleged sexual exploitation of minors in Mai Mahiu, in Nakuru County.
The investigative piece featured undercover reporters who documented interactions with women described as "madams" who allegedly recruited children into sex work.
