Kindiki: Our officers are not going to Haiti as guinea pigs

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has defended government plans to send police officers to Haiti stating that Kenya is internationally known for participating in peace missions.

Appearing before Committee on Administration and National Security, the CS said Kenyan police have been sent to peace operations abroad a number of times.

He named Namibia, South Sudan, Sudan, East Timor, Somalia and Bosnia and Herzegovina as some foreign missions local police officers have engaged in.

"We are not sending our officers as guinea pigs. Kenya has been at the forefront in supporting peace missions across the globe not by the military but police component as well," he said.

It also emerged that the government dispatched a team of officials to Haiti ahead of deployment of police officers to the troubled country.

Kindiki told the committee chaired by Narok West MP Gabriel Tongoyo that the team comprised officials from the National Police Service and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He said the team, which has since returned, went to assess the viability of the mission.

"We will be sending another team to the UN on a diplomatic mission. The team will be led by the CS for Foreign Affairs," he added.

Kindiki said the government will not incur expenditure since the mission is fully sponsored by the UN.

A court temporarily blocked the government from deploying hundreds of police personnel in Haiti in a UN-approved mission aimed at helping the Caribbean nation tackle rampant gang violence.

The court order issued on Monday is valid until  October 24.

Justice Chacha Mwita stopped Kindiki from deploying the police until a case filed by Thirdway Alliance and two Kenyans is heard.

They argued that the decision to deploy the police officers outside the east African country is illegal.

The order bars Kenyan government officials including the President and his Interior minister “from deploying police officers to Haiti or any other country until October 24, 2023”.

In July, Kenya pledged to offer 1,000 police officers after Haiti appealed for international help with security personnel to assist in its battle against gangs blamed for spiralling violence.

The United Nations estimates some 200,000 Haitians have been displaced during escalating violence, with armed gangs carrying out indiscriminate killings, kidnappings, gang rapes and torching people’s homes.

According to the petitioners, the deployment of the police officers is “not only nonsensical and irrational but unconstitutional”.

The decision to deploy did not involve public participation and is also unconstitutional because only the Kenya military can be deployed outside the country, according to the petition.

On Sondu clashes, the CS said 10 people have been arrested in connection to the latest violence at the Kericho-Kisumu border that has left seven people dead.

He said the suspects will be arraigned soon to face various charges.

“Criminals are purporting to be pursuing a boundary to engage in unlawful activities. Where the border lies cannot be an excuse for murder,” he said.

Kindiki added that the dispute in Sondu is not unique as 30 other counties have similar border disputes.

He however said officers in the area should have acted differently to avert the violence.

“We must first isolate the criminals before we look at the border dispute. Livestock have been stolen during the violence. I do not see any connection between a boundary and a cow,” he said.

Kindiki added that more police officers will be deployed in the area to prevent further attacks.

Nyakach MP Joshua Aduma said the attacks are not about a border dispute.

“It is one community attacking another. Houses are burnt on one side of the area,” he said.

Aduma added that the people behind the violence are ferried from distant areas. “The people in the area know each other. Those attacking them are not from within,” he claimed.

President William Ruto ordered the arrest of all those behind the clashes in Sondu.

Speaking in Nyando, Kisumu on the first day of his four-day visit to Nyanza, Ruto ordered Kindiki to crack down on the perpetrators.

Kindiki on Thursday transferred security chiefs from both sides of the border as the government moved to return normalcy.

He also noted that all other security officers found to have been complicit in the clashes would be moved, and perpetrators of the crimes arrested.

Kindiki added that a multi-agency security team has since been deployed to Sondu.

Azimio leaders on the other hand blame area political leaders for the skirmishes.

“Let’s make no mistake. The violence and mayhem in Sondu is not an ordinary disagreements between villagers. Big names are behind this violence. They include leaders and politicians from the neighbouring county and in the National government,” the leaders claimed in a statement read by former Defence CS Eugene Wamalwa.

Residents have also appealed to the government to find a permanent solution to the insecurity menace on the border area.