Hundreds of Kenyan police officers deployed to Haiti have not received their full promised salaries for two months, adding another complication to an already difficult security mission in the gang-plagued Caribbean country. The first Kenyan officers arrived in June 2024 as part of a multinational security support mission (MSS) funded largely by the United States. Today, about 400 Kenyan police officers, mostly from specialized units, are deployed in Haiti.
In a statement on August 25, the MSS acknowledged the payment delays and announced that the missing funds would be paid to the officers this week, assuring that there was “nothing to worry about” regarding the welfare of the officers. The Kenya National Police Service (NPS) also released a report indicating that officers were continuing to receive their basic salaries while waiting for the promised supplement for their duties in Haiti.
Kenyan police officers had expected to receive a substantial pay supplement for the mission, which more closely resembles a military mission than regular police duties. The officers, confined to their base in Port-au-Prince during off-duty hours, are facing a difficult situation. Some of them, speaking on condition of anonymity, expressed frustration to CNN, stressing the urgency of receiving the payments as schools reopen in Kenya and they deal with school fees and other family expenses.
The MSS mission is expected to eventually number 2,500 personnel, with reinforcements expected from countries including Jamaica, Benin, Chad, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados and Belize. The force is intended to bolster the Haitian National Police’s fight against a gang alliance that controls about 85 percent of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. Nearly 600,000 Haitians have been forced to flee their homes because of gang violence, and about 2 million people live in gang-ravaged areas where fear of attack is pervasive, according to Haitian interim Prime Minister Garry Conille.
The MSS is funded by a UN-managed trust fund, to which the United States, Canada, France and Spain have contributed millions of dollars. The United States has committed at least $380 million to support the mission, mostly in the form of equipment and supplies.
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