President William Ruto has affirmed that the government will deploy Kenyan police officers to Haiti despite a court ruling that termed the planned deployment unconstitutional.
Ruto has said the mission is now more than imminent. While speaking to Reuters on Tuesday, January 30, he observed that the request from Haiti’s government several months ago seeking help to eradicate the notorious gang violence is a humanity call.
“The mission is on course. The mission is a bigger calling to humanity.”
In 2022, Haiti made a formal request to end what can be perceived as genocide but no country came through, as foreign governments are cautious considering the current administration was not voted into power.
Ruto believes Kenya sending 1,000 police officers is a continuation of the country’s history of taking part in international peacekeeping affairs.
To streamline the deployment, the United States committed 200 million dollars with countries like Jamaica, Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda also showing intent to help.
The United Nations last week had placed a tally of people killed by gang violence in Haiti at 4,789 nearly 119% more from 2022. Its official documents also showed that a total of 3,000 people were held hostage.
With President William Ruto showing signs of not relenting on the mission to Haiti, leaders affiliated with the Azimio la Umoja Coalition have sternly condemned the move, saying that the judiciary’s independence is non-negotiable.
While calling on the current regime to respect the court decision, NARC Kenya Party Leader Martha Karua highlighted that the U.S. should consider staying off from Kenya’s affairs.
“We take note of the support expressed by the United States government for the Ruto regime to appeal against the ruling on the deployment of police to Haiti. It is our hope that all parties shall respect the independence of the judiciary and that foreign interest will keep off our national affairs.”
Martha Karua’s sentiments came following comments from the Spokesperson of the U.S. Department of State Mathew Miller who was quoted saying President Joe Biden’s government was fully behind William Ruto on his move to defy the High Court ruling, which pronounced that police deployment to Haiti was unconstitutional.
“We reaffirm our support of ongoing international efforts to deploy a Multinational Security Support mission for Haiti,” Miller said
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