Following the ruling delivered by the Kenyan High Court on Friday last week declaring deployment of the National Police Service (NPS) officers to Haiti unconstitutional, the Government of Haiti has issued a statement.
In the dispatch issued on Sunday, the Caribbean country's government expressed its hope that the issues in Kenya would be addressed swiftly and that there would be a positive outcome.
The statement from Port-au-Prince (the Capital of Haiti) indicated that the country was ‘following developments in Kenya’ and was clinging on hope that Kenya would have a “swift and positive outcome”
Further, the Haitian government, which is currently grappling with gangs which have taken over large parts of the country, thanked all the countries that had come forward to offer aid in different forms to restore order and sanity to the nation.
“We would like to thank the many countries that have come forward to offer various types of aid to restore order and security as soon as possible,” the statement read in part.
The statement went further to urge the citizens of Haiti to remain calm, support the nation’s security forces and not to allow themselves to be intimidated by disinformation campaigns and threats of violence.
The Kenyan government had offered to deploy 1,000 police officers to lead a multinational force tasked with restoring law and order in Haiti.
However, the High Court in Kenya declared the deployment unlawful with Justice Chacha Mwita observing that the Constitution “did not not mandate the Council to deploy police officers outside Kenya,"
On Saturday, the US Department of State also put out a statement in response to the ruling stating that it still remained committed to the deployment of a multinational security support mission in Haiti.
“The United States acknowledges the ruling by the Republic of Kenya’s High Court regarding the deployment of Kenyan police in support of the Multinational Security Support mission to Haiti and the Government of Kenya’s stated intent to challenge this ruling.” stated Matthew Miller, the Spokesperson of the US Department of State.
He further admitted that it was urgent for the international community to respond to the unprecedented levels of gang violence and destabilising forces preying upon the Haitian people. He also called for restoration of democratic order through an inclusive political process in the country.
There have not been elections in Haiti, which is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere since 2016 with the presidency remaining vacant due to criminal activity.
Following the assassination of the country’s president Jovenel Moise in 2021, the Prime Minister has been the acting Head of State to date.
Citizens of Haiti have expressed worry about their safety after the Kenyan court halted the planned deployment.
