By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga
Worth Noting:
- The acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) assured these families and the country that there was no cause to worry. We have spoken with the United Nation (UN) and other international bodies who had signed up to pay salaries of the troops in this peace keeping mission.
- They have assured us that the salaries were processed and would be deposited in their respective bank accounts this week.
- The opinion was divided when President William Ruto announced that Kenya was among the countries that had been requested by the United Nations (UN) to send police officers to Haiti for peace keeping mission.
- The critics argued that Kenyan police was ill-equiped to deal with Haiti criminal gangs who had forcibly ousted their legitimate government and taken charge.
A few days ago, I read a story in one of the mainstream media highlighting the complaints raised by families of the Kenyan police officers deployed to Haiti.
Their bone of contention was that the officers were yet to be paid their salaries since they arrived in Caribbean Nation.
This story suggested that the journalists spoke separately to most of the members.
After reading it, three questions came to my mind. Why would the officers use family members to communicate this?
Had they first consulted National Police Service (NPS)? If not, could it turn out they were pushing the agenda of President William Ruto’s critics?
Yes, I know the critics would argue the officers did this out of fear of being marked by their seniors and perhaps being recalled.
I highly doubt. The officers had an option of lodging their complaints as a team but not as an individual.
This notwithstanding, the National Police Service (NPS) responded swiftly.
The acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) assured these families and the country that there was no cause to worry. We have spoken with the United Nation (UN) and other international bodies who had signed up to pay salaries of the troops in this peace keeping mission.
They have assured us that the salaries were processed and would be deposited in their respective bank accounts this week.
The opinion was divided when President William Ruto announced that Kenya was among the countries that had been requested by the United Nations (UN) to send police officers to Haiti for peace keeping mission.
The critics argued that Kenyan police was ill-equiped to deal with Haiti criminal gangs who had forcibly ousted their legitimate government and taken charge.
But the situation on ground have since proved wrong the critics.
While demonstrating high levels of discipline, courage and experience, our officers have so far made good progress.
They would not achieve this if they were not well trained and understood their assignment.
It is worth noting that Kenya is leading the United Nations (UN) backed-security mission in Haiti.
Under the stewardship of Commander Geoffrey Otunge, Kenya has so far deployed 400 Kenyan police officers.
A few days ago, the officers sent out an appeal for more equipment including helicopters and armoured personnel carriers (APCs).
This come after one of the Armoured vehicles that the US government had earlier supplied to the Kenyan troops was destroyed by a landmine.
This is the only reported incident that saw Kenyan officers engage the criminal gangs in a fierce gun battle that lasted for hour. There were no casualties on the Kenyan side.
The officers managed to clear the road blocks erected and manned by the gangs on the major roads. They had earlier rescued hospitals, an airport and a number of police stations and administrative blocks/offices.
The Kenyan officers’ first assignment was to rescue the capital city of Prince Au Port and its environs. The mandate of the officers have since been extended to cover 16 towns and municipalities.
Since arriving in two batches, the officers have been working closely with Haitian National Police Service.
Kenyan police had previously won the battle against criminal gangs such as Mungiki, Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), Saboat rag-tag militias and cells of Al Shaabab militants.
This will happen before these gangs reared an ugly head and posed a serious security threat to social fabric of Kenya.
In Haiti, the officers managed to reclaim the town of Mawozo.
This town is located along the border with Dominican Republic. Some of the arms used by criminals were believed to have been smuggled through this border.
As a result of Kenya’s successes, a number of top world leaders have so far visited the Kenyan camp.
Besides the UN and American envoys, the latest is the Canadian ambassador in Haiti.
After holding talks with Otunge led team, he said that Canada will provide all necessary support that they needed.
We are happy with the Government of Kenya for agreeing to lead this mission.
You are indeed doing very well. Your coordination of mission is superb. Please keep it up.
The deployment of Kenyan officers had earlier been delayed because of three main reasons.
One, clearing the hurdles placed in the way of anchoring this process in law.
Two, the camp where the officers would stay had not yet been completed.
Three, the resignation of the Prime Minister of Haiti.
This created a power vacuum. The GoK had to wait for this matter to be sorted out.
The troops are operating under the banner of Multilateral Security Support Mission (MSSM).
The new Prime Minister of Haiti thanked Kenya for responding to their distress call. We are very grateful to the people of Kenya and we request GoK to send more police officers.
The initial reports indicated that the total number of officers to be deployed stood at 1,000.
The deployment of the first batch came hot on the heels of the visit by the delegation of police officers from Haiti.
Then IGP assured them that the government of Kenya has finalized plans to deploy Kenyan police officers to Haiti.
During this visit, the leader of Haiti police delegation thanked President Ruto and his government for responding positively to their distress call. He assured the Kenyan police that they will work closely with them and provide them with necessary support.
Besides Kenya, Chad, Burundi, Nigeria and Algeria are among the countries in Africa which have so far agreed to send officers for the same mission.
They join those from Jamaica, Chile, Paraguay, Barbados, Bahamas, Barbuda Germany, France and Canada.
Contrary to the impression created by one of the mainstream newspaper, the deployment of the Kenyan officers had not been designed to coincide with President William Ruto’s recent state visit to the United States of America (USA).
The decision to deploy 1,000 officers had been made long before President Joe Biden sent the invite.
Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Singoei kept updating the country on why deployment had been delayed.
He always denied rumors being peddled around that the government had developed cold feet.
We have made this decision because of the resignation of the Prime Minister Henri Ariel.
Also, some ministers and top police officers have also been forced by the Haitian gangs to resign and flee.
So, there was no government in place to receive our officers and direct them on how to carry out the operations.
The Government of Kenya believes in the constitution and rule of law. So, in Haiti, it looked forward to work with a constitutional authority, PS Singoei reiterated.
The Haitian transitional council has since appointed a new Prime Minister.
Before the deployment, President William Ruto had hosted the Prime Minister of Haiti Henri Ariel at State House Nairobi. The two leaders signed an agreement paving the way for deployment. The PM resigned a few days later.
Reports indicate that Kenyan parliament and the Court of Appeal had okayed the deployment. This showed the law was being followed to the letter and spirit.
So the claims by Dr Ruto’s critics that he was forcing the decision down the throat of Kenyans did not hold any water.
Having read sections 107,108 and 109 of the National Police Service (NPS), I’m persuaded to believe that the decisions that the President had made so far were within the law.
I heard then Cabinet Secretary for Interior Kithure Kindiki elaborating this matter further.
He stated that the deployment cannot be done without an approval of Parliament.
As we know, the people of Haiti had been in big trouble.
For the starters, I want to share with them some of the atrocities that were being committed there.
The gangs were raping women and chopping the heads of thier fellow citizens. The children were not spared.
The hospitals and schools had been closed and the main roads blocked. More than ten Police stations have run down. A prison have been broken into and thousands of prisoners secured their ‘freedom’.
The staff of humanitarian and charitable organizations were being targeted. They were blocked from accessing the camps where hundreds of thousands of Haitians had sought refugee to offer them food and medications.
This is the reason why Haitian leaders, who were on the run and some besieged, had pleaded with UN to intervene.
If you ask historians, this is what they would tell you about Haiti. This was the first country to emancipate itself from the colonial slavery. The people living in this caribbean nation are Africans.
President Ruto remembered this while explaining why Kenya is touched with thier pains and agony.
The people of Haiti are human beings just like us. Taking cognizant that Kenya is a member of the community of nations, it is wrong to sit and watch when they are suffering.
It is worth noting this is not the first time that the government of Kenya is sending security personnel to join the Africa Union or United Nations peace keeping missions.
The history of the previous Kenyan administrations is replete with this.
The previous deployments were approved at a time when Kenya had fallen far short of meeting the UN requirement of the ratio of 1: 450. This means one police officer taking care of 450 citizens.
How come Ruto’s critics never raised it during the reigns of the previous governments?
So, thier comments reeked more of hypocrisy and insincerity.
Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political analyst based in Nairobi
