Media coverage of police mission to Haiti generates heat, not light

The media coverage of the Kenyan police mission to Haiti generated more heat than light. The media didn’t throw sufficient light on the subject to keep us well-informed.

What the coverage did was to produce citizens who now hold misinformed opinions about the mission—its aims and objectives and why Kenya is leading the mission and what is in it for us.

Before getting into the misinformed opinions, let’s quickly put out of the way the factual misinformation generated by the media.

Haiti is part of the North America continent, not South America. It’s situated within the Caribbean Sea. The correct pronunciation of Haiti is “Haytee”, not as in the Swahili-Bantu word combination “Hai.ti”.

Haiti, which is about half the size of Wajir County, is the only country that is nearly 100 per cent African but is not in Africa.

The National Police Service (NPS) mission to Haiti, officially known as the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSSM), is non-UN—unlike others that Kenya has participated in, such as the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in Croatia.

The United States has pledged about $200 million, not $100 million, in support of MSSM, including logistics and equipment.

The MSSM is not unconstitutional. The correct position is that Parliament still must approve the mission.

Waikwa Wanyoike, a constitutional lawyer, in his article “Does plan to send 1,000 police officers to Haiti comply with the Constitution?” (Saturday Nation, Sept. 30, 2023) states that it’s an indictment on Parliament that President William Ruto has failed to comply with the Constitution to seek its approval for the deployment, and Parliament seems nonchalant about it. But then, he wrote that the UN Security Council was still considering the issue and, therefore, there was no mission to approve.

Other articles published by the Nation also claimed that the MSSM was unconstitutional. For example, Nyaboga Kiage writes: “Critics, including former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, have called the mission illegal” (“Haiti’s notorious gang leader that Kenyan police ‘will’ face”—Nation.Africa, Sept. 30, 2023).

Let’s turn to misconceptions, or unproven theories, also fuelled by the media. There are many. I have space for two. The first is that the MSSM is a trap—Kenyan police officers will be slaughtered by the Haitian gangs led by former police officer Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, who control 80 per cent of the capital Port-au-Prince. It will be another Suguta Valley massacre back home in 2012, when 42 newly recruited officers were ambushed and killed by cattle rustlers.

Homegrown problems

In his article, “Don’t lead forces to slaughter in Haiti,” (Nation. Africa, Sept. 29, 2023), Dr Isaac Newton Kinity writes: “Haiti is too unstable and dangerous for them. First, being anglophones, they will have great difficulty communicating with the francophone residents.”

David Kigo, in his article “Haiti job poisoned chalice” (Nation.Africa, Oct. 3, 2023), concludes: “The $100 million pledge by Washington to kick-start the operation should not be the catalyst to lead our men and women to slaughter.”

The second unproven theory is that the MSSM does not benefit Kenya. “We have our own homegrown problems of crime and increased insecurity in many areas; how, then, do we export our officers?” writes Ruth Gituma (“The Cutting Edge by The Watchman”, Daily Nation, Oct. 2, 2023). “I’m curious about this programme and just hope that we are not being used as guinea pigs.”

“Why did Kenya, which is thousands of kilometres away, agree to send its police officers?” asks Henry Ruhiu. He wonders whether this country is not being turned into a guinea pig (“The Cutting Edge”, Daily Nation, Sept. 26, 2023).

In his usual sarcasm, columnist Gabriel Oguda caps it all in “Haiti criminal gangs are about to discover that God is more powerful than voodoo” (Saturday Nation, Sept. 30, 2023): “Since the UN signalled its intention to promote our police officers to glory, there are some of you who have been discouraging them from answering the call of duty to go test their shooting skills with real criminals with better ammunition and nothing to lose.”

The three cartoons published by the Nation on September 21, 23 and 24 also depict the MSSM as misconceived and probably nothing more than an export of Kenyan police brutality to Haiti.

All in all, the media coverage of MSSM doesn’t do justice to a historic and noble cause that all Kenyans should be proud of.

- The Public Editor is an independent news ombudsman who handles readers’ complaints on editorial matters including accuracy and journalistic standards. Email: [email protected]. Call or text 0721989264