A Kenyan police officer patrols as the country is facing emergency food insecurity while immersed in a social and political crisis, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti October 3, 2024
Nairobi, Dec 6 — Kenyan police officers serving in Haiti on a U.N.-backed anti-gang force have threatened to resign from the mission over pay delays and poor conditions.
Nearly 20 of the roughly 400 Kenyan police officers serving in the mission are said to have submitted letters of resignation from the mission over the past two months.
The officers have received no response to their letters and continue to serve on the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, three officers who requested anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media said.
Kenya’s national police spokesperson did not respond to calls and messages seeking comment about the resignation letters, pay delays and working conditions.
National police chief Douglas Kanja addressed reports in Kenyan media of pay delays at a news conference on Wednesday, saying the officers had been paid “up to the end of October”.
The three officers disputed this, saying they were last paid in September.
Kenya has deployed about 400 officers since June to lead the MSS, which is meant to comprise around 2,500 personnel from about 10 countries, but the force has been hobbled by funding and staffing shortfalls.
Only a handful of officers from the other countries have arrived in Haiti, and a pledge in October by Kenyan President William Ruto to send another 600 officers the following month did not materialise.
The three officers said that colleagues began to submit letters of resignation in October after trying to resign verbally and being told to put their requests in writing.
Three officers submitted resignation letters in October and another 15 or so in November. Among them were at least five senior officers, including a unit commander, who was the first to submit a letter in October, they said.
One officer said he had not been prepared for what he encountered in Haiti and has been “tormented by scenes like dogs eating human flesh on the streets”.
The officers also said they did not have adequate ammunition to counter the gangs, who have stepped up attacks on Kenyan police positions.
The mission has faced morale issues nearly from the start.
Four officers told Reuters in September that they faced delays receiving their pay and shortages of equipment and manpower. The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has provided the vast majority of the funding for the mission, and has been pushing to convert it into a U.N. peacekeeping force, which could shore up and diversify its funding.
