Haitians came out to express their dissatisfaction with the work that international security missions have done so far in the country to contain the criminal gangs wreaking havoc. Their dissatisfaction came hours after President William Ruto visited the Caribbean nation over the weekend.
During the visit, President Ruto expressed optimism about the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) led by the first contingent of Kenyan police deployed in the country. The Head of State further noted that the progress recorded had changed the world's perspective of their mission.
However, citizens of the Caribbean nation did not find anything optimistic with the mission, maintaining that little had been done to deal with the gangs in the country.
Mario Canteve, a Haitian who spoke to AFP after the visit by Ruto, lamented that he no longer believed that the Kenyan contingent of police and other support missions had anything that could immediately change the situation.
“No one is coming to save Haiti. Nothing is changing," he stated. “A new mission cannot save Haiti."
Canteve further poked holes into the optimism that the presence of the Kenyan officers together with the expected additional deployment would help the country facilitate elections, terming such a move as unrealistic.
“How can you hold an election when everything is so violent? Everyone is shooting," he argued. "When police cannot even go into certain areas, what kind of election are they going to get?” Canteve posed.
Moise Jean-Pierre, a Haitian teacher also echoed the sentiments noting that the idea to turn the deployment of the Kenyan officers into a fully-fledged United Nations peacekeeping mission will do little to help end the rage advanced by the gangs operating in the country.
“It would not be the first time we've had U.N. missions in Haiti, what difference will it make?” Pierre argued.
Ruto had expressed that despite the initial doubts that the Kenyan police received at home, the troop achieved success in combing through some gang-controlled towns including Delmas and Soleil and changed the public's perception in the process.
''You know that this mission had a lot of doubts back home but you have demonstrated otherwise and raised the respect of the Kenyan Police and now many troops have revealed that they are now ready to come to Haiti all because you did the unimaginable,’’ he stated.
Kenya police officers are currently operating in Haiti under a United Nations-supported force of 400 police and Jamaican police officers.
