By Gerrino J. Saunders
Journal Staff Writer

As more police officers from Kenya are expected to arrive in Haiti following the
visit of Kenya President William Ruto last Saturday, the Government of The
Bahamas is still uncertain what role officers from the Royal Bahamas Defense
Force will play.
On Monday Wayne Munroe the Minister of National Security provided the most
recent update that is similar to the information shared by the Minister of Foreign
Affairs Fred Mitchell a week earlier.
He said, “we have not committed any police officers (to Haiti), our foreign police
efforts have been in the Turks and Caicos Islands. We have committed a
contingent of Royal Bahamas Defense Force marines and officers and that
involvement is subject to finalization through the signing of necessary documents
and the doing of acts that the security people need to do before any Bahamian will
be deployed anywhere.”
Meanwhile, some Bahamians are not in support of the government sending officers
and marines to Haiti in essence to ‘fight another man’s battle’ is what the general
consensus is.
In response to such sentiments the National Security Minister explained why
sending troops to Haiti is in the best interest of The Bahamas.
He said, “well one of their main jobs is to stop migrants from Haiti right? So if
people are leaving Haiti because of instability and when we catch them we have to
actually house them here and pay millions upon millions of dollars to house them
and then millions upon millions of dollars to repatriate them. You are going to pay
tax payers money on addressing the problems in Haiti one way or the other.”
In the meantime, Kenya has pledged to send 600 more police officers to Haiti in the
coming weeks to help fight gangs said to still be controlling much of the capital, Port-
au-Prince, and nearby areas. This would bring the Kenyan contingent, deployed
incrementally since June to help the Caribbean nation’s beleaguered police force, up to
1,000.

During a visit to the Haiti on September 21 st Kenya’s President William Ruto also said
he supported turning the current Kenya-led security mission into a full United Nations
peacekeeping operation. Aside from Kenya a number countries have together pledged
at least 1,900 more troops.

Last week it was announced that Haiti is edging closer to holding its first elections
since 2016 after the interim government took key steps by creating a body which
will oversee the polls.
The nine-member provisional electoral council set up last Wednesday has been
tasked with organizing elections by February 2026. Among the council members
are representatives from the media, academia, trade unions and religious groups.
During his visit to Haiti earlier this month US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
urged the provisional government to move forward with the electoral process. He
said setting up an electoral council was a “critical next step.”
The Haitian presidential post has been vacant since the assassination of President
Jovenel Moise by Columbian mercenaries in July 2021.
Violence in Haiti is still rife and a UN human rights expert has warned that gangs are
targeting new areas, causing further displacement.
The U.N Security Council was due to meet sometime this week to decide whether
to renew Kenya’s current mandate for another 12 months, paving the way for a full
U.N mission in 2025.
This would lead to increased funding and resources for the operation, which has been
hampered by a lack of equipment.