The United States Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman on Tuesday stated that several factors are behind the delay in deploying Kenyan police officers to Haiti.
Speaking during an official trip to Nyeri, Whitman listed the fact that the US Department of Defence feels it is necessary to set up a camp in Haiti, which the Kenyan officers will use during their operation in the Caribbean nation.
Whitman further outlined that the Kenyan police need to be trained to prepare them adequately for the mission on top of being vetted.
The former corporate executive further outlined that the parties financing the mission, need time to put in place frameworks to bankroll the operation.
"These are very complicated missions. This is not a UN peacekeeping mission. It is a different kind of mission," Whitman noted.
Kenyan Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing'oei has also cited the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry as a factor derailing the deployment.
While clarifying the delay in disbursement of the funds meant for the mission, the US envoy noted the United Nations was still in the process of setting up a trust fund.
The trust fund would be used to collect the donations made by different countries to fund the multinational mission in Haiti and Kenya can only access the funds once the trust fund is set up.
“There is the UN Trust fund that needs to be set up so that Kenya can be given the money to undertake the Haiti mission and these things take time,” Meg Whitman noted.
On March 1, Kenya signed a deal with Haiti allowing the deployment of its officers to the war-torn nation. The agreement was signed by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki and the Haiti Security Minister at State House.
However, a week later, the Haiti Prime minister resigned following a crisis meeting between the 15-member Caribbean Community regional bloc known as CARICOM.
During the meeting, the stakeholders agreed to appoint a seven-member presidential panel that would pick a new interim prime minister to hold the fort.
