How Nanyuki women pimps mint millions from prostitution business

Nanyuki Town. [PHOTO: FILE]

Nanyuki's fame, for many, is linked to 'Johnnies' (moniker for British soldiers) and their escapades while out in town. Invariably, these stories turn to their dalliance with sex workers. Some are outright horror stories that involve dead women of the night, and some are rib-cracking anecdotes. At the centre of it all is the trade in the flesh. And while the 'happy-time' girls and their foreign clients are front and centre, hiding in the wings are shadowy women who call the shots. They control the oldest profession in Nanyuki and without their authority, no local girl can dare approach a foreigner here. They have a quasi-recruitment agency that scouts for young girls they then connect with the young British soldiers who use the town as their training base.

Meet the Madams of Nanyuki, a group of women no girl in the business would dare cross, lest she is banished from the town. They are as tough as nails and their word is law.
So powerful are the shadowy Big Mamas that they ran a parallel government where they even control the price of alcohol in various drinking dens in Nanyuki.
The town is the last 'sane' frontier before the soldiers under the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK), tackle the inhospitable northern terrain of Isiolo, Samburu and Laikipia counties during their training.