Nairobi — National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula has tasked the National Assembly Administration and Security Committee in conjunction with their Senate counterpart to jointly consider the National Security Advisory Council (NSAC) memorandum seeking clearance to deploy Kenyan police to Haiti.
NSAC requested approval from MPs to send the multinational security support mission to the troubled nation after the memorandum was approved by the Interior Cabinet Secretary and the Attorney General.
"The committee is required to consider the memorandum jointly with the relevant committee of the Senate and submit its report to the Houses of Parliament on or before eighth November 2023 to allow for a timely disposal of this matter," Wetangula directed.
National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi had opposed the consideration of the matter for approval by the house saying Article 240(8) of the Constitution allows MPs to second deployment of police forces and not services as envisaged in this case.
"So the Constitution in the way it is structured does not actually read or view the National Police Service as a force and therefore I want to up to submit the speaker in the sense that we have got no capacity as a house to authorize or support authorized National Police Service which is not up security force," Wandayi stated.
Heated debate
House Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah termed Wandayi's argument as a fallacy insisting MPs as people's representatives ought to question the methodology and financing of the deployment since the issue has raised huge public interest.
"I therefore find this to be a fallacy honorable speaker that this house would even be questioning why we are being asked to ask questions," Ichung'wah said.
"The President was magnanimous enough to ask that his Cabinet Secretaries be accountable to the people of Kenya through their elected representatives it is the same thing the executive is seeking to be accountable to the people of Kenya," he explained.
Speaker Wetangula however poured cold water on Wandayi's argument saying that the terms 'forces' as alluded in Article 240(8) included the National Police Service.
"The Hon Opiyo Wandayi has clearly misread the Constitution. Wandayi has misdirected his mind because Article 240 is very clear," the Speaker directed.
"Under Article 240 (8), that the council may with approval of Parliament deploy our forces will include the police who sit in that council to any manner that has been described in the message. So no and I think we are playing politics other than law," said Wetangula.
Restraining Order
The development came even as the High Court extended an order restraining Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki from deploying Kenya's police units as part of the multinational security mission in Haiti.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
High Court Judge Chacha Mwita, sitting at Nairobi's Milimani Law Courts, gave the extension even as he scheduled hearings on the matter to begin on November 9.
Haiti has been grappling with a surge in violence since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021 at his private residence in the capital, Port-au-Prince, triggering calls for a security intervention to complement the efforts of understaffed and under-resourced Haiti national police force.
On October 9, the court temporarily halted the police deployment and restrained the National Assembly from considering the matter, pending further directions.
Justice Mwita certified an application by the Thirdway Alliance party as urgent saying the petition raised substantial issues of national importance and public interest, warranting urgent consideration.
