A BBC Africa Eye investigation has uncovered women known as “madams” exploiting children as young as 13 in Kenya’s child sex trade in Maai Mahiu, a trucking hub 50km east of Nairobi. Undercover investigators, posing as sex workers, secretly filmed two madams, Nyambura and Cheptoo, admitting to profiting from underage girls, as reported by BBC News.
In Maai Mahiu, a key transport hub in Nakuru County, truckers fuel a sex trade where minors face abuse. Nyambura revealed manipulating girls with sweets, while Cheptoo boasted of earnings from girls as young as 13, operating covertly to evade Kenya’s laws, which impose 10 years to life for trafficking minors, per the Kenya Law Reports. The BBC shared evidence with Kenyan police in March 2025, but no arrests have been made due to challenges tracing the madams and girls’ reluctance to testify.
Victims shared harrowing stories of daily abuse, often without condoms, driven by poverty and broken families. A 2022 Global Fund to End Modern Slavery report estimated 2,500 children in sex work in Kilifi and Kwale counties. In Maai Mahiu, former sex worker “Baby Girl” provides refuge, training girls in photography and beauty skills. Her USAID-funded outreach, distributing condoms via Karagita Community Health Centre, faces closure due to U.S. funding cuts announced by President Trump, per Reuters.
The child sex trade in Kenya demands urgent action. Stay updated on efforts to protect vulnerable children and combat exploitation!
source: myjoyonline
