On Friday, the Kenya High Court ordered that a lawsuit, aimed at prohibiting the government from deploying police to Haiti, be served on high ranking government officials. The lawsuit was filed by Thirdway Alliance Kenya leaders, Dr. Ekuru Aukot and Miruru Waweru. A hearing is scheduled for June 12th.
The complaint was brought forth to prevent the impending police deployment, conceived as part of a UN-backed campaign to aid Haiti in tackling gang violence. The plaintiffs contended that the government’s resolve to send police officers to Haiti flies in the face of a January court order which ruled such an action unconstitutional and illegal. The plaintiffs underscored the urgency of the matter by pointing out the scheduled commencement of the deployment on May 23rd.
Interestingly, Kenya’s parliament had given the green light last November, for a dispatch of 10,000 officers to Haiti. However, the High Court in Nairobi subsequently invalidated this initiative as being unconstitutional. The grounds for such a verdict were that Kenya could only send officers to Haiti, if the two nations shared a reciprocal agreement under sections 107 and 108 of the National Police Service Act.
Regardless, in March, Kenya and Haiti inked a security agreement that paved the way for 1,000 Kenyan police officers to be stationed in Haiti in an attempt to restore order. This decision drew backlash from instrumental political figures. The dispatching process halted temporarily in March due to the resignation of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, but President William Ruto of Kenya reassured that the country would uphold their commitment to lead the UN Security Support Mission in Haiti.
Haiti has been wrestling with the problems of organized gang violence and aftermath of President Jovenel Moise’s assassination in 2021. The aggravating violence led to a state of emergency declaration and generated international calls for intervention, including from the UN High Commissioner, to forestall further disorder.
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