by CYRUS OMBATI
Monday December 4, 2023
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi follows proceedings at the COP28 summit in Dubai, Friday, December 1, 2023. Image: PCS
Musalia Mudavadi has travelled to Haiti as part of the fact-finding team before Kenya sends a 1,000 police officers to the trouble-torn Caribbean nation.
He left Saturday accompanied by Monica Juma, the national security advisor.
The Prime Cabinet Secretary's mission is the second assessment mission.
He will meet Haitian authorities and sign agreements ahead of planned deployment.
Also in the team is Deputy Inspector General of Administration Police Noor Gabow and their teams.
Kenya will open a consulate office in Haiti.
The Mudavadi delegation will be the final step before the first team is dispatched.
The earliest the team can leave for Haiti is February 2024, officials said.
This is after High Court judge Chacha Mwita said deployment of officers to Haiti will be determined on January 26, 2024.
The judge had on October 24, extended orders stopping the deployment of the officers to Haiti for a peacekeeping mission.
In the case, Thirdway Alliance party leader Ekuru Aukot sued President William Ruto and his administration in a bid to block the peacekeeping mission that will see the deployment of at least 1,000 police officers to the gang-ridden nation.
He argued that Kenya has not ratified any law or treaty to allow the deployment of police officers outside the country. Parliament approved the deployment of 1,000 police officers to Haiti.
In October, the Cabinet approved the deployment of 1,000 police officers to Haiti, jumping one more legal hurdle in the circuitous approvals needed to have the move get legal backing.
The decision by the government to send the troops has been seen as controversial. A dozen senior police officers toured Toussaint Louverture International Airport and neighbouring sites in Port-au-Prince Haiti, in August for an assessment study.
The US is partly funding the MSS to the tune of $200 million if Congress approves.
This comes amid reports that hospital in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, has been evacuated by police after nearby gang violence.
It came after powerful gang leader Iskar Andrice was killed in Cite Soleil - raising fears that there could be a further spike in violence in the area.
Gangs have taken increasing control of Port-au-Prince since the assassination of the country's president in 2021 threw Haiti into a political crisis.
Thousands of Haitians have fled their homes in the capital, while more than 2,400 others have been killed, according to the latest figures from the UN.
Kenya’s move has been backed by the UN. More than 1,000 officers will be picked from the Rapid Deployment Unit, Anti Stock Theft Unit, General Service Unit, and Border Patrol Unit to form a larger team for deployment.
These officers have paramilitary training and are likely to work well with other personnel from countries that have agreed to send theirs to Haiti for the same mission.
Kenya will take the command and operations of the about 3,000 personnel. Unlike a UN peacekeeping mission, where the forces are under the control of the UN.
Department of Peace Operations, the multinational force in Haiti will be overseen by Kenya, although its forces are there with UN, authorisation, which gives the intervention the backing of international law.
Chile, Jamaica, Grenada, Paraguay, Burundi, Chad, Nigeria and Mauritius are among countries that have confirmed deployment of their officers to Haiti.
Kenya Police Service has a long history and rich track record in peacekeeping missions and peace support operations to Namibia, Cambodia, former Yugoslavia, UN Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, East Timor, Croatia, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, and Darfur.
Current Peace Support Operations Deployment include UNMISS-South Sudan, AMISOM- Somalia, UNSOM- Somalia, MONUSCO- Democratic Republic of Congo, UNIFSA- Abyei, INURSO- Western Sahara, UNHQRS- New York and UNLB- Brindisi, Italy.