Is the UK an Innocent Onlooker to Corruption in Its Former Colonies—Now Strategic Partners?

While Kenya-UK relations are presented as glossy, a close evaluation reveals layers of British neocolonialism perpetuated through unequal agreements and the maintenance of secrecy networks and tax havens that encourage corruption and launder proceeds of corruption from Kenya.

A close review of Kenya and the UK shows that nothing between the two countries is as glossy as presented in the mainstream media. Instead, the old colonial power in the UK appears to be trying to deceptively move its interests at the expense of Kenyans using neo-colonial tendencies. This tendency can be noted, among others, in the Kenya-UK Economic Partnership (EPA)-2025, in which Britain, which formally colonized Kenya, presents itself as Kenya’s most-favored nation (MFN) without reciprocating the same status to Kenya. For instance, article 15(2), bars Kenya from accepting better trade terms from other trading powers without consulting the UK but lacks a clause giving similar protection to Kenya. Such unequal clauses and the parties’ security alliance may have been used to enable past corruption scandals in Kenya, the proceeds of which ended in the UK — more on that later. The UK has not been a bystander in the plunder of Kenyans by their political elites but has facilitated the theft and laundering of stolen wealth through its network of banks and safe havens for its benefit.

An article appearing in The Elephant, a Pan-African publication that gives long-form commentary on political and economic realities in Africa, stated that........

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