Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has dismissed reports that the National Police Service (NPS) is training Haiti security officers in Kenya.
In a TV interview, Mudavadi said the government has not reached the level of having Haitian police in the country, not to talk of training 2,000 of the officers as reported by certain media outlets.
“We have not reached the level of having Haitian police coming to Kenya to train,” he said.
Mudavadi explained that Kenya has only agreed to deploy 1000 police officers to Haiti under United Nations (UN) deployment framework.
The Foreign CS rubbished the claims emphasizing that the government cannot hide such information from the public
“If they are going to be trained, we would not hide anything, we would make it public the same way we have made it public that we are engaged under the UN framework for deployment. As we speak now there are no such 2,000 people training in Kenya,” he added.
Why 200 Officers Will Go First
Besides, Mudavadi defended the government decision to send 200 police officers in the first phase instead of the previously mentioned 1000.
The CS said the peace keeping deployment in Haiti is a multinational mission and not a singular mission of Kenya.
He maintained that the deployment is an operational issue and follows the advice of people trained on matters of logistics and deployment just like in Kenya’s past missions.
“There is a lot of consultations that is going on and there are a lot of countries that are committing to be part of this process going forward. So, the deployment will be strategic, phased out and we are sure that with time the experts on security deployment will be able to have enough boots on the ground to deal with the crisis,” Mudavadi said.
Additionally, the CS explained that the officers who will be deployed are security experts who have gone through a lot of details to make sure that they cover each and every corner during the mission.
“So, I can only plead to the Kenyan people to understand that these are experts who are being asked to asset the people of Haiti and in consultation with the people of Haiti, the UN and other states that are willing and ready to support either financially or logistically,” he said.
Mudavadi said strategies have been laid to handle any emergencies that may arise to the officers during the mission.
“They are going through this detail very carefully in terms of what would be the case in an emergency situation, how would they be handled. This is not people jumping into the deep end without knowing how to swim, these are people who are trained in matters security,” he stated.
Also Read: Haiti Appoints New Prime Minister Ahead of Kenya Police Arrival
Haiti Deployment Legal framework
Mudavadi defended the deployment which has met a lot of opposition from the opposition and a section of Kenyans.
He maintained that the mission is under the UN Security Council and prompted by resolution 2699 of 2023.
“That resolution of the UN still stands, and it is the anchor framework that is guiding this process of deployment to Haiti,” he explained.
Also Read: Haiti Mission: Ruto Encounters Fresh Hurdle as Deployment Dates Are Confirmed
New Prime Minister
According to Mudavadi, the new Haiti Prime Minister (PM) Garry Conille is tasked with taking over peace keeping that was started by former PM Ariel Henry.
“When the outgoing Prime Minister was handing over authority to the transitional council one of the issues was that the peace initiative that he had started would be adopted by the government and the people of Haiti. That together with the UN framework is the basis upon which we are deploying,” he said.
This comes after President William Ruto said on May 24 that another team of Kenya police officers will arrive in Haiti in about three weeks.
Apart from Kenya, other countries that will send officers to Haiti are Chile, Jamaica, Paraguay, Burundi, Chad, Nigeria and Mauritius.
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