Kenya has made notable adjustments to its plan of deploying police officers to Haiti by agreeing to train Haitian security officers.
While the plan to send 1,000 police officers to Haiti remains on course, on Sunday, May 26, it was agreed that Kenya would also train 2,000 Haitian police officers.
The contingent will be trained in Kenya before being taken back to the Caribbean nation to battle gangs who are controlling 80 per cent of the island.
This was communicated during a meeting between the Kenya Police advance team, which consists of senior security officers, and the Haitian Transitional Presidential Council.
The 2,000 Haitian police officers will be taken through a crash course in law enforcement and combat.
While the specific date when the Haitian police officers are expected to land in Kenya has not been announced, the training is expected to take two weeks, and the officers will return to their home country in mid-June 2024.
Coincidentally, that is the same time when Kenya is expected to deploy the first team of 200 police officers to the troubled nation.
Multiple delays have occurred in the deployment of police officers to Haiti, the latest being logistical challenges, which pushed the deployment from an initial agreed-upon date of May 23.
Additionally, for close to a year, President William Ruto’s administration had to deal with multiple court cases challenging the legality of the deployment
The United States Congress also earlier blocked the disbursement of Ksh8 billion, which would have facilitated the exercise before President Joe Biden used the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) to fast-track funding.
Kenya will be part of a multinational force that will take on gangs in Haiti as well as oversee free and fair elections.
Other countries that have shown a willingness to join include; Chile, Jamaica, Grenada, Paraguay, Burundi, Chad, Nigeria, and Mauritius.
