Haiti deployment: PS Sing'oei now says Kenya seeks to restore order, sanity

Kenya says it is committed to deployment of its police to Haiti amid changing circumstances in the Caribbean country gripped by gang violence and political instability.

This follows a phone call conversation between President William Ruto and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

This as Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Dr. Korir Sing’oei says Nairobi’s goal in Haiti is on humanitarian grounds.

A political vacuum and spiralling violence across Haiti's capital is already making a bad situation worse; the violence is boiling over, with the Caribbean nation facing the worst humanitarian crisis in years.

But despite recent events in Port-au-Prince slowing Nairobi’s planned deployment, the government maintains the mission is still on.

“The Nairobi plan around the deployment of police contingent under the multinational police mission is still on course,” said Dr. Sing’oei.

Speaking on a subject matter that has sparked public debate, the PS also spoke on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' level of involvement.

“There are technical documents that are done under the framework of the police and therefore the Interior ministry, but on the background the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been part and parcel of this process,” noted Dr. King’oei.

And what informs Kenya’s geo-political goal in Haiti?

“Kenya enters into this theatre without any other interest, save the interest to secure the safety and the property of the people of Haiti for the sake of their African brothers and sisters who are suffering in that country,” he stated.

With President Ruto’s assurance to the United States of Kenya’s lead role in Haiti, critics have accused Nairobi of bending towards Washington’s direction.

To this, the PS notes: “It is not fair to say that Kenya is being pushed. It is because Kenya’s DNA, primary DNA is peace building and peace keeping, supported and supplemented then by the desire of the neighbouring countries to say ‘let us ask for help from another brotherly African country’ and Kenya comes first.”

Dr. Sing’oei had on Tuesday said Kenya had resolved to put on hold plans to send police to violence-wracked Haiti under a UN-backed multinational mission.

This came after Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry agreed to step aside as armed gangs took over much of the Caribbean nation.

"There has been a fundamental change in circumstances as a result of the complete breakdown of law and order and the subsequent resignation of the PM of Haiti," the PS told AFP the, adding:

"Without a political administration in Haiti, there is no anchor on which a police deployment can rest, hence government will await the installation of a new constitutional authority in Haiti, before taking further decisions on the matter."