Kenya and Haiti have formalized the deployment of 1,000 police officers to the North American nation by signing an agreement.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki signed the agreement with his Haitian counterpart on Friday, March 1 at State House.
President William Ruto and Haiti Prime Minister Ariel Henry were also present.
In a statement after the agreement was signed President William Ruto said they also discussed the next steps to be taken to fast-track the deployment of the officers.
“Today, March 1, 2024, I am pleased to inform that Prime Minister Ariel Henri and I have witnessed the signing of this instrument. We have also discussed the next steps to enable the fast-tracking of the deployment,” said Ruto.
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He continued,” I take this opportunity to reiterate Kenya's commitment to contribute to the success of this multi-national mission. We believe this is a historic duty because peace in Haiti is good for the world as a whole.”
This comes a month after the High Court blocked the deployment of Kenyan officers to Haiti.
Justice Chacha Mwita in a ruling on January 26 said the National Security Council lacks authority to deploy police officers outside the country.
He also pointed out that Kenya does not have an arrangement with Haiti for police officers to be deployed.
“Article 240 does not mandate the Council to deploy police officers outside Kenya. Deployment should be as provided for in part 14 of the Act and only to a reciprocating 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,” Justice Mwita stated.
Kenya was set to deploy 1000 officers to the Caribbean nation in February this year.
