NAIROBI, Kenya
The High Court of Nairobi has declared the deployment of National Police Services (NPS) officers to Haiti as unconstitutional.
In a ruling issued by High
Court Judge Chacha Mwita on Friday, it was noted that the National Security
Council and NPS do not have powers to deploy police outside Kenya.
Mwita made the ruling
following an application made by Thirdway Alliance Party leader Ekuru Aukot
who wanted
the court to block the deployment stating that it was illegal.
"To be clear, Article 240
does not mandate the Council to deploy police officers outside Kenya.
Deployment should be as provided for in part 14 of the Act and only to a
reciprocating country," he ruled.
"It is not contested that
there is no reciprocal arrangement between Kenya and Haiti and for that reason,
there can be no deployment of police to that country."
The judge acknowledged that
Kenya's offer to help mitigate a humanitarian crisis in Haiti was noble,
however, he maintained that such deployment needed to be undertaken in
accordance with the Constitution of Kenya.President William Ruto
"An order is hereby
issued prohibiting the deployment of police officers to Haiti or any other
country otherwise than any compliance with part 14 of NPS Act," he stated.
Aukot filed his petition in
court after Parliament approved the deployment
of 1,000 officers to the Carribean nation.
Kenya had offered to lead a
peacekeeping mission in Haiti which has witnessed an upsurge in gang violence.
President William Ruto was
among the biggest pushers of the deployment noting that the move was informed
by Kenya's obligations to the international community.
Notably, the move by Kenya was
warmly received by the international community with countries such as the
United States offering
Ksh14 billion and other logistic support.
The deployment of the police
was also approved by the United Nations Security Council in October 2023.
Following the ruling, it is
not yet clear whether the government will be moving to the Court of Appeal.
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