Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki on Thursday told MPs that Kenya will not deploy police officers to Haiti as planned unless the United Nations (UN) releases adequate finances to facilitate the mission.
Speaking at the National Assembly as he requested approval for the mission, Kindiki clarified that Kenya was yet to receive the funds to allow the government to plan for the deployment.
While making his remarks, Kindiki stressed that the government has adopted the position that the UN must first release the funds before the government releases the police officers for the mission.
“The only assurance I want to give is that unless all resources are mobilized and availed, our troops will not leave the country or be deployed until the resources are in place," Kindiki noted.
According to Kindiki, the deployment of Kenyan police to Haiti will cost Ksh90.9 billion, an amount that will be used to finance the whole operation.
“We have agreed on a number of things that the resources for this mission will be done by the member states for this mission,” Kindiki said.
Nonetheless, the CS noted that Kenya had taken the initiative to use its own money to enable early preparations while waiting for the disbursement of the funds by the UN.
"Any cost that is incurred, is a cost that must be reimbursed, even if it is the small amounts of money involved in those preparatory works ."
According to Kindiki, the 1000 officers will not be deployed once and will be released in batches.
In mid-September, United States President Joe Biden pledged Ksh14.9 billion ($100 million) to support a proposed multinational peacekeeping force from Kenya to restore security to conflict-ravaged Haiti.
However, in the agreement, the date of capitation disbursement to fund the mission was not publicly clarified despite Biden's pledge.
Besides the financial aid, the US also vowed to provide all the logistics for the success of the mission, including intelligence, airlifting, communications, and medical support.
The deployment of the 1000 officers to Haiti is currently awaiting approval by the National Assembly after the Cabinet gave a thumbs up to the mission.
Kenya has been lauded for offering to lead the peacekeeping mission meant to restore peace to the violence-ravaged country.
