President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza government has announced plans to challenge the High Court’s ruling banning the deployment of Kenya Police to Haiti.
In his ruling on Friday, January 26, High Court Judge Justice Chacha Mwita said the National Security Council has no mandate to deploy police officers to another country.
“…any decision by any state organ or state officer to deploy police officers to Haiti… contravenes the constitution and the law and is therefore unconstitutional, illegal and invalid,”
“An order is hereby issued prohibiting deployment of police forces to Haiti or any other country,” he said.
However, in a letter signed by government spokesperson Issac Mwaura, the state said it respects the High Court ruling and that it will file a petition to challenge it.
“The government of Kenya takes note of the High Court’s ruling regarding the deployment of the Kenya Police to help the multi-national security support mission for the restoration of law and order in Haiti,
“While the government respects the rule of law, we have however decided to challenge the high court’s verdict forthwith,” he said.
Mwaura said the Kenya Kwanza government has an outstanding track record of contributing to peacekeeping missions internationally in countries such as South Sudan, Namibia, Croatia, Liberia, and Siera Leon among others.
Kenya has pledged to deploy 1,000 security personnel for the mission seeking to combat a decades-long gang violence characterized by widespread murders, kidnappings, and extortion.
The National Security Council, in October 2023 petitioned Parliament to approve the deployment of Kenyan police officers on a UN-backed security mission to war-torn Haiti.