Kenyan Police officers are scheduled to deploy in Haiti, under a UN backed mission which awaits final approval by the Kenyan Senate.
Frantz Elbe, Director General of the Haitian National Police is in Kenya on a three-day official visit until Friday ahead of the deployment of Kenya’s police officers to Caribbean nation.
Haiti is struggling to contain persistent gang violence.
The visit comes a month after Kenya’s lawmakers have approved the proposed deployment of the National Police Forces to the Multinational Security Support Mission to Haiti.
The final green light is pending consensus from the Senate, which is expected to review and approve the joint report by the Security and National Administration Committee before authorizing the deployment of 1,000 troops.
However, a legal obstacle stands in the way of the deployment, as a court case filed by Thirdway Alliance has led to an order barring the government from sending police officers to Haiti on a UN-backed mission until the case is heard and determined.
A joint committee of the National Assembly and the Senate on Security and National Administration approved the deployment with a dissenting opinion from Homa Bay MP Peter Kaluma who opposed the deployment citing unconstitutionality and unlawfulness.
Kaluma noted that the National Police Service perform its function within the territory of Kenya and its not a force of deployment outside the country.
Further, he opposed the deployment arguing that the National Police Service is an independent institution which is not capable of deployment by the National Security Council (NSAC).
Other Nations to Deploy in Haiti
At least ten other countries have signaled readiness to deploy personnel of various kinds, but it is the Kenyan police who will lead the mission which received approval from the UN Security Council in October.
Other countries also in the mission include Senegal which is expected to deploy 350 officers, Burundi (250), Chile, Jamaica, Ecuador, Barbados which will collectively deploy 200, and Seychelles which will deploy 190 officers.
Haiti, which became the first black majority nation in the world to win independence, has been under some form of foreign intervention.
But with 13 coups and seven assassinations of its leaders over the past century, the country’s security nightmare was worsened by the rise of gangs.
