Kenya’s mission to deploy its troops to war-torn Haiti on Friday faced a fresh challenge after lawyer Ekuru Aukot filed a petition against the government.
In his Thursday, May 16 petition, the lawyer accused the government of contempt, claiming the state contravened a court order issued in January stopping the deployment.
According to Aukot, the government had already selected a contingent of 200 police officers who would travel to Haiti later this month.
The lawyer thus urged the court to treat the petition as urgent since the government was planning to kick off the deployment on May 23.
"The applicants are reliably informed that the impugned deployment may be done any time from now," Aukot claimed in his petition.
Aukot further argued that the government intentionally breached the law by continuing with what he termed as illegal activities despite a pending court case.
The Thirdway Alliance Party leader also claimed that Haiti had not written a formal request to Kenya for the deployment of its officers to quell the situation in the war-ravaged country.
"There is no government in place in Haiti to give us such a request or sign a bilateral agreement with Kenya," Aukot noted.
The move comes days after reports suggested that Kenya was planning to send the first batch of police officers to Haiti in late May.
The deployment is set to coincide with President William Ruto's state visit to the United States in which the deployment will be among the focal points of discussion.
It is estimated that the first batch of deployment will consist of 500 police officers, 400 security personnel, and 100 medical officers all drawn within the National Police Service (NPS).
Reports further claim that the United States Defence Department through the Pentagon has begun setting up camps for the multinational mission.
