logo
ADVERTISEMENT

MPs summon Kindiki, IG Koome over Haiti mission

Lawmakers want the two to shed more light on the planned police deployment.

image
by JAMES MBAKA

News04 October 2023 - 06:56
ADVERTISEMENT

In Summary


  • Kenya is planning to seek parliamentary approval before deploying 1,000 police officers to Haiti.
  • Kenya will lead the multinational security support mission to restored order in the Caribbean nation.
Interior cabinet secretary Kithure Kindiki answers questions when he appeared before the National cohesion and equal opportunity committee in parliament on September 29, 2023

The National Assembly has summoned Interior CS Kithure Kindiki and IG of police Japhet Koome over Kenya's mission to Haiti.

Kenya is expected to deploy its force to Haiti by January 2024 to combat gangs and restore security.

The two were summoned by the National Assembly Committee on National Administration and Internal Security.

Kindiki and Koome are expected to appear before the committee next week to shed more light on the planned deployment of Kenyan police to the Caribbean nation.

Committee chairperson and Narok West MP Gabriel Ole Tong'oyo confirmed that the MPs had been summoned.

"We are expecting them in Parliament next week," he said adding that they will unveil more details about the Haiti Mission.

The government is already preparing to seek parliamentary approval before deploying the officers.

The United National Security Council passed a resolution authorising Kenya to deploy 1,000 police officers to Haiti.

The resolution drafted by the US was approved with 13 votes in favour and two abstentions from China and the Russian Federation.

The resolution authorises the force to deploy for one year, with a review after nine months.

It would mark the first time a force is deployed to Haiti since a UN-approved mission nearly 20 years ago.

A deployment date has not been set, although US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently said a security mission to Haiti could deploy "in months."

Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua had told the BBC that the force should already be in Haiti by Jan. 1, 2024, "if not before then."

Only officers from formed units in the National Police Service of Kenya will be deployed to Haiti.

More than 1,000 officers will be picked from the Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU), Anti Stock Theft Unit (ASTU), General Service Unit (GSU), and Border Patrol Unit (BPU) to form a larger team for deployment with the exercise expected to happen in two month's time probably by January 2024.

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

logo© The Star 2024. All rights reserved