President William Ruto has assured the United States of America that Kenya is still determined to deploy police to restore peace in the gang’s paradise Haiti after the establishment of the Presidential Council.
Kenya’s Head of State in his X account yesterday said he had a telephone conversation with United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the developments in Haiti.
“He informed me that a new Presidential Council will be formed shortly to manage the situation in Haiti. I assured Secretary Blinken that Kenya will take leadership of the UN Security Support Mission in Haiti to restore peace and security in Haiti as soon as the Presidential Council is in place under an agreed process,” Ruto wrote.
The decision by the Summit of Caribbean Countries (Caricom) to form a Presidential council followed after the resignation of Ariel Henry as the Prime Minister of Haiti which complicated Kenya’s move to deploy security to the country.
Henrey resigned while he was in Puerto Rico after failing to make a return to Haiti with armed gangs, making his return an impossible mission. Prior to his resignation, he had visited Kenya on March 1 in bid to convince the country to deploy the police in his country.
This is the second time in a week that President Ruto is having a phone conversation with Blinken after US State Department announced on March 9 that the two talked about the ‘ongoing political and security crisis in Haiti’.
“They underscored unwavering commitment to the deployment of a Multinational Security Support mission to support the Haitian National Police in creating the security conditions necessary to conduct free and fair elections,” the US State Department announced.
Blinken also appreciated Kenya’s efforts to ensure there is peace and sanity in the East African region.
“Secretary Blinken also offered his appreciation for Kenya’s diplomatic work to support peace and security in the Horn of Africa.”
On Monday Blinken announced that the United States will contribute $300 million (Ksh.41.7 billion) to the Kenyan-led multinational security mission to Haiti.
“I’m announcing today that the United States Department of Defense is doubling its approved support for the mission from $100 million (Ksh.13.9B) to $200 million (Ksh.27.8B). And that brings the total US support to $300 million (Ksh.41.7B) for this effort,” Blinken said at the conclusion of a meeting of Caribbean states (CARICOM) in the Jamaican capital of Kingston.
The top US diplomatic said the US supports “the plan to create a broad based, inclusive, independent presidential college” that would “take concrete steps to meet the immediate needs of Haitian people,” enable the “swift deployment” of the security support mission, and ultimately “create the security conditions that are necessary to hold free and fair elections, to allow humanitarian assistance to get the people who need it, and to help put Haiti back on a path to economic opportunity and growth
It is estimated that 200 to 300 gangs control large swathes of the country, with 90 per cent of the capital, Port-au-Prince under gangs.
In July 2023, Kenya pledged to offer 1,000 police officers after Haiti appealed for international help to assist in battling the gangs.
On October 13, 2023, the National Security Council and Cabinet approved the deployment of 1,000 police officers.
On November 16, 2023, Parliament unanimously approved the deployment.
On January 26 High Court Judge Chacha Mwita declared the proposed deployment of police as unconstitutional, null and void saying the National Security Council has no legal mandate to deploy police officers under the law, adding that it can only do so with the defence forces.
“An order is hereby issued prohibiting the purported deployment of police officers to Haiti or any other country, otherwise and in contrary with Sections 107 and 108 of the National Police Service (NPS) Act,” he ruled.
