Kenya not financing Haiti security mission -Police
Police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga said the total budget for the mission in the current financial year 2024/2025 is Sh2.1 billion and not Sh4.5 billion, as claimed by some media reports.
The National Police Service has clarified that the cost of sending troops to the Multi-National Security Support (MSS) mission in Haiti is being fully covered by the United Nations fund established in 2023 to finance the mission.
In a statement, police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga said the total budget for the mission in the current financial year 2024/2025 is Sh2.1 billion and not Sh4.5 billion, as claimed by some media reports.
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"The Government of Kenya is not financing the MSS mission to Haiti. The mission is 100 per cent funded by the United Nations (UN) Trust Fund. The National Police Service has to date received reimbursements amounting to USD 7,220,030.56 (Sh933,546,317.60)," he explained.
He added that the Trust Fund disburses personnel allowances to the government on a monthly basis, which are received by the Central Bank before being credited to the exchequer account.
"Therefore, the NPS clarifies that all expenses relating to the MSS Mission to Haiti are met by the UN Trust Fund," he added.
The Trust Fund was established in October 2023 by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2699 to cover the costs of the Kenya-led mission.
At the end of last year, Foreign Affairs PS Korir Sing’oei stated that the fund had received USD 110.3 million in pledges from several states, including the US, Turkey, Spain, Italy, and Algeria.
"USD 85 million had already been received by the Trust Fund, including substantial contributions from the United States. While the undisbursed US contribution of USD 15 million has been paused as per the presidential directive, the Fund has sufficient resources to continue underwriting the mission until the end of September 2025," the PS said.
The resolution stipulated that the costs of implementing the MSS Mission would be borne by voluntary contributions and support from individual Member States and regional organisations, in strict compliance with international law, including international human rights law, as applicable, to support the Haitian National Police in re-establishing security and creating conditions conducive to holding free and fair elections.
The first contingent of Kenyan police officers arrived in Haiti in June last year with a strict mandate to help secure the country's critical infrastructure sites and transit locations such as airports, ports, schools, hospitals, and key intersections. They were also tasked with carrying out targeted operations in close collaboration with the Haitian National Police.
The mission further required them to provide operational support to the Haitian National Police in countering gangs and improving security conditions in Haiti, which at the time was plagued by numerous incidents of kidnapping, sexual and gender-based violence, migrant and arms smuggling, homicides, extrajudicial killings, and the recruitment of children by armed groups and criminal networks.
They were also tasked with ensuring the unhindered supply of aid to populations in need.
However, in February this year, the US government, in a surprise move, froze more than USD 13 million (Sh1.7 billion) in funding for the mission following President Donald Trump’s 90-day foreign aid pause.
"The US had committed USD 15 million to the Trust Fund; USD 1.7 million of that had already been spent, so USD 13.3 million is now frozen," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at the time.
The Kenya-led mission remains dependent on voluntary contributions, which have so far been limited.
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