The government will appeal the High Court’s verdict that declared the planned deployment of Kenyan police officers to Haiti as illegal.
Government spokesman Isaac Mwaura said the ruling administration had taken note of the court’s ruling regarding the deployment of officers in the Multi-national Security Support (MSS) Mission for the restoration of law and order in the Caribbean country.
“While the government respects the rule of law, we have however decided to challenge the High Court’s verdict forthwith,” Mwaura said in a statement to newsrooms.
He said Kenya has an outstanding track record of contributing to peacekeeping missions internationally in countries such as South Sudan, Namibia, Croatia, Liberia and Sierra Leone among others.
“The government reiterates its commitment to honouring its international obligations as a member of the community and comity of nations,” Mwaura added.
In a ruling delivered on Friday, Justice Chacha Mwita said the National Security Council has no mandate to deploy police officers to another country.
"…any decision by any state organ or state officer to deploy police officers to Haiti... contravenes the constitution and the law and is therefore unconstitutional, illegal and invalid. An order is hereby issued prohibiting deployment of police forces to Haiti or any other country," he said.
Last year in October, the National Security Council sought Parliament approval for the deployment of Kenyan police officers on the UN-backed security mission. The National Assembly has since approved the deployment.
The approval came amid a High Court order temporarily blocking the planned deployment pending the hearing of a petition filed by Third-way Alliance Kenya leader Ekuru Aukot and two other petitioners.
Aukot argued that the Constitution does not envisage the deployment of the police service outside Kenya.
Kenya has pledged to deploy 1,000 security personnel for the mission seeking to combat a decades-long gang violence characterised by widespread murders, kidnappings and extortion.
The UN Security Council gave the go-ahead in early October for the deployment of a multi-national security support mission, led by Kenya, to help the overwhelmed Haitian police.