High Court Judge Temporary Blocks Kenya From Sending Police Officers to Haiti

NAIROBI, Kenya – A judge has upheld an opposition politician’s request for an interim injunction temporarily preventing the Kenyan government from sending police to Haiti to restore peace and security.

“I am satisfied that the application and petition raise substantial issues of national importance and public interest that require urgent consideration,” High Court judge Enock Mwita ruled.

The injunction had been sought by Ekuru Aukot, who argued the deployment was unconstitutional as it was not backed by any law or treaty.

Last week, the UN Security Council approved a Kenyan-led multinational security force with the African country promising 1,000 police officers.

The resolution, adopted under UN Charter’s Chapter VII last Monday, which sets out the Security Council’s responsibilities to maintain international peace and security, was penned by the United States and Ecuador.

The UN said the international mission has been approved for an initial period of a year with a review after nine months. It will be led by Kenya, and several of Haiti’s Caribbean neighbors including Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica, the Bahamas and Belize, have also pledged their support.

Aukot, a lawyer who helped draft Kenya’s revised 2010 constitution, argued that Kenya was deploying its police abroad at a time it had failed to quell insecurity within its own borders.

International media reports said the judge issued the conservatory order “restraining the respondents from deploying police officers to Haiti or any other country until 24th October 2023”.

Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, who is also the chairman of the 15-member regional integration movement, CARICOM, said Prime Minister Skerrit said while the United Nations Security Council had passed the resolution “Haiti needs more than that.

“Haiti is going to need a comprehensive set of measures to help it stabilize the situation, bring law and order back into Haiti, but also going forward an economic plan that is well financed by the international community,” Skerrit said, adding that “Haiti is going to need a complete overhaul and a Marshall plan to help it get out of the situation once and for all”.