- Kindiki was appearing before the Committee on Administration and National Security.
- The CS said that the government will not incur expenditure since the mission is fully sponsored by the UN.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has defended plans to send police officers to Haiti saying Kenya is internationally known for participating in peace missions. https://rb.gy/hnc51
Image: MINA
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has defended plans to send police officers to Haiti saying Kenya is internationally known for participating in peace missions.
Appearing before the Committee on Administration and National Security, the CS said Kenyan police have been sent to peace operations abroad several times.
He named countries where Kenyan police officers have served such as Namibia, South Sudan, Sudan, East Timor, Somalia, Bosnia and Herzogovina.
"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 the 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 mission's viability.
"We will be sending another team to the UN on a diplomatic mission. The CS for Foreign Affairs will lead the team," he added.
Kindiki said that 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 the deployment of police until a case filed by Thirdway Alliance and two Kenyans was heard.
They argued that the decision to deploy police officers outside the East African country is illegal.
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 Kenyan military can be deployed outside the country.