Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki saysThe government has spent 36 billion shillings to prepare some of the police officers earmarked for Haiti deployment.
Speaking when he appeared before the joint committees of the bicameral house considering the Haiti deployment,Kindiki said the money catered for training and medical procedures which will be refunded upon deployment.
“We have agreed that the resources for this mission will be arranged and mobilized among member states. Unless all resources are mobilized and availed. Our troops will not leave the country,” he said.
The whole multinational mission, according to Kindiki, will cost 600 million US dollars.
Kindiki has said the process of identifying the 1000 officers is ongoing as they wait for the outcome of the court that barred the deployment.
“We have taken the proactive measure to ensure we at least identify the officers. We are engaged to ensure they are fit for purpose,”he said.
“I have attached a small amount that is preparatory work, we have Sh241 million for essential preparations so that when we receive green light we shall deploy,” Kindiki added.
State has spent 241 million US dollars ahead of Haiti deployment says Kindiki
“We expect that the in the next few months we will escalate security operations and therefore this deployment doesn’t in any way disrupt our operations,” Kindiki noted.
Last month, the Cabinet approved the deployment of 1,000 police officers to Haiti, jumping one more legal hurdle in the circuitous approvals needed to have the move get legal backing.
A dispatch from the State House in Nairobi said the country’s council of ministers had approved the deployment which will now head to parliament for the needed ratification.
The decision by the government to send the troops has been seen as controversial and a lawyer had already gone to court seeking to stop the deployment altogether.
The High Court had earlier suspended plans for deployment, temporarily, after the lawyer argued there had been no Cabinet decision on it and that Parliament was being bypassed.