Kenya: Seven in 10 Women Face Repeated Sextortion While Seeking Public Services – Study
Nairobi — Nearly three-quarters of female service seekers in Kenya report facing repeated demands for sexual favours while accessing public services, a newly released Kenya National Gender and Corruption Survey 2025 shows.
The study, conducted by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) with support from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), found that 73 per cent of women who experienced sextortion were solicited for sexual favours more than three times within a year.
The anti-graft agency said the findings highlight the entrenched and repetitive nature of sextortion, particularly against women seeking essential government services.
The survey indicates that women are disproportionately targeted, with repeated coercion emerging as a defining feature of sextortion.
In addition to the 73 per cent who reported being solicited more than three times, a significant proportion of female respondents reported experiencing demands at least twice during service interactions.
Men were also affected, though at lower levels. About 27 per cent of male respondents reported being asked for sexual favours more than three times, while 18 per cent said they experienced at least one such demand.
Overall, 8 per cent of service seekers said they were indirectly asked for sexual favours, while 2.1 per cent reported direct requests in the 12 months leading up to the survey.
Coercive practices
The report highlights the complexity of sextortion, noting that demands are often indirect, making them harder to detect and report.
Women were more likely to face both direct and indirect requests. About 9.3 per cent of female respondents reported indirect demands, compared to 7.4 per cent of men, while 3 per cent of women reported direct requests, versus about 1 per cent of men.
The findings suggest that perpetrators frequently rely on subtle coercion, exploiting power imbalances in public service delivery.
The survey underscores that corruption in Kenya extends beyond cash bribes to include non-monetary exchanges such as sexual exploitation.
Testimonies collected during focus group discussions illustrate how sextortion manifests in everyday life and across sectors.
“When we talk corruption, it does not mean monetary only… there are ladies who are forced to get that fish in exchange for sex,” a participant in Kisumu said, describing practices in the informal economy.
Another account from Nyeri highlighted how corruption can obstruct justice in sensitive cases, with powerful individuals allegedly shielding perpetrators.
The sextortion findings come amid broader concerns raised in the survey, which identified police, civil registration, land registry, and NTSA officials among the institutions with the highest corruption prevalence.
More than 72 per cent of bribes were reported to be paid in cash, reflecting the continued dominance of informal transactions in accessing services.
The survey was presented by EACC Director of Preventive Services Vincent Okong’o at a forum attended by senior officials and development partners, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Kenya is among the few African countries to undertake a gender-focused corruption survey, aligning with the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which calls for inclusive and citizen-driven approaches to tackling corruption.
By Capital FM.
