Netizens recently joked about Kenya sending out traffic police officers instead of soldiers on the peace keeping mission to Haiti.
Belgut Member of Parliament Nelson Koech has however come out to dismiss the critics as he supported the government’s move.
The government had agreed to be part of a peace keeping security force to be sent out to the war torn Caribbean region.
Earlier on, United States Defense Secretary,Lloyd Austin had visited the country in a bid to strengthen the security force with a donation of 100 million US Dollars.
According to the Koech, the troops to be deployed would not be ordinary police officers but specially trained unit officers who were capable of dealing with the gangs in Haiti.
“I know Kenyans have made a joke out of this and many think the police who are going there are traffic policemen. Kenya has special armed forces. There is absolutely no problem whatsoever we must put our country in the global arena at least for the good things. I totally support it,” he said. “Our officers have encountered gangs before they are properly trained for that.”
MP Koech was speaking on Citizen TV’s Daybreak show on Monday. The deployment of the 1000 soldiers was announced by Foreign Affairs CS Alfred Mutua who said that the deployed officers would help train and aid the Haitian police to restore peace in the region which has since been run by gang members.
The announcement, which raised concerns from Kenyans, was welcomed by Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome, who expressed confidence in the the mission.
“Yes, we’re going to Haiti. We will lead this mission. We have never failed. We’ll succeed there too,” Koome said during a meeting with Head of Public Service Felix Koskei.
Kenya had officially established diplomatic relations with Haiti on September 21. Meanwhile, the United Nations (UN) Security Council is set to vote on a resolution that will see a non-UN multinational force led by Kenya deployed.
@cygorila tweeted,”The people of Congo have protested against Kenyan special forces asking them to leave,is it any different in Haiti?,and so to mean traffic police officers are not trained?”
@KEIdeal tweeted,”Si watu uongea mbaya,was it necessary to mention Traffic police”