At least 20 Kenyan police officers deployed in Haiti as part of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission to combat gangs have submitted resignation letters, citing delayed payments and poor working conditions.
According to Reuters, these officers submitted their resignation letters over the past two months, but they have received no response and continue to serve in Haiti.
Some officers also expressed frustration, claiming that their communication has been controlled to prevent details about their poor conditions from reaching Kenya.
Among those who resigned are five senior officers, including a unit commander who was the first to submit his resignation in October.
Three officers, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, revealed that they have not been paid since September.
This contradicts the statement made by Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja, who asserted that the Kenyan officers had been paid through the end of October.
“Our officers in Haiti have received their payment up to the end of October,” Kanja said.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the Kenyan government has spent sh 2.1 billion on the MSS mission in Haiti, despite previous assurances that no taxpayer money would be used to fund the peace operation.
Treasury CS John Mbadi explained that the funds spent will be reimbursed by the United Nations.
“We are making the payment on behalf of the UN, and once we pay, they will refund us,” Mbadi said.
“This expenditure was not initially in the budget, but it will be reflected in supplementary budgeting as both income and expenditure.”
Since the mission began, it has faced financial difficulties, with several donor countries failing to honor their pledges.
The UN-backed mission relies on voluntary contributions from donor nations through a trust fund, but delays in fulfilling these pledges have caused logistical challenges for the Kenyan officers in Haiti.
In November, Russia called for increased support for the Kenyan police in Haiti, following its rejection of a US-led proposal to convert the Kenya-led police mission into a UN peacekeeping operation.
Russia’s deputy permanent representative to the UN highlighted that both the Haitian police and the Kenyan contingent in Port-au-Prince remain the only forces effectively combating criminal gangs in the country.
“The current tragic events in Haiti show that, regardless of the future format of international presence, Haiti urgently needs assistance,” Russia stated.
“It is crucial to provide necessary logistical and financial support, or there will be no one left to host Haiti’s future peacekeepers.”
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