The family of a senior police officer who died in a hotel in Washington DC now says he was among a team sent to Haiti to prepare for the deployment of a multinational security support mission.
The body of Chief Inspector Walter Nyamato Nyankieya was found in his hotel room on Tuesday morning.
Officials in the US investigating the death suspect high blood pressure as the cause.
Nyankieya was based at the Administration Police headquarters as the personal assistant to Deputy Inspector General of Police Noor Gabow.
His colleagues said he had failed to wake up and when they went to check on him, they found the body on the bed.
The family's statement is contrary to what Gabow said that Nyankieya was attending a seminar in the US when he was found dead in his room.
"We will know more with time,” he said with no further explanation.
Nyankieya's family however said they knew he was on a mission to Haiti.
They said the team had left Nairobi and landed in Washington DC for a briefing and was to fly to Miami and later to Haiti.
They were to present a reviewed memorandum of understanding sent by Haiti for signing and fly back to Kenya for final agreements.
It is understood, as suggested by the court on the need for reciprocity, that Haiti had sent a memorandum of understanding to Kenya on the need to deploy the police officers there.
Kenya's law provides for a mechanism in which police officers can be deployed abroad if there is a reciprocal arrangement with the host country.
High Court judge Justice Chacha Mwita said Kenya’s National Security Council, which is chaired by the President, does not have the authority to deploy regular police outside the country.
“It is not contested that there is no reciprocal arrangement between Kenya and Haiti and for that reason, there can be no deployment of police to that country,” Mwita said.
The judge said Kenya’s offer was noble but needed to be carried out in accordance with the Constitution.
The decision was considered by many to be a blow to Haiti, which first requested the immediate deployment of a foreign-armed force in October 2022.
