More questions emerge as IG disowns budget requests to fund Haiti operations

The National Police Service Saturday stated that Kenya is not financing the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission in Haiti.

This followed reports that the MSS Mission to Haiti had used up to Sh4.5 billion.

The service said that all expenses relating to the MSS Mission to Haiti are met by the UN Trust Fund.
“As a Service, we remain committed to achieving the mandate of the Multinational Security Support Mission.”

“The attention of the National Police Service (NPS) has been drawn to a report appearing in the media on Friday, 14 March 2025 regarding the funding of the MSS Mission to Haiti. The report alleged that the MSS Mission to Haiti has gobbled up Sh4.5 billion,” a statement said.

Spokesman Michael Muchiri said the total budgetary provision for the MSS Mission to Haiti in the Financial Year 2024/25 is Sh2.1 billion and not Sh4.5 billion as alleged.

“The government of Kenya is not financing the MSS Mission to Haiti. The mission is 100 per cent funded by the United Nations (UN) Trust Fund,” Muchiri said.

He said that the National Police Service has to date received reimbursements amounting to US Dollars 7,210,030.56 (Sh933,546,317.60).

Muchiri said the UN Trust Fund disburses Personnel Allowances to the government on monthly basis.
Upon receipt of the funds, he said, the Central Bank of Kenya credits the Funds to the Exchequer Account.

“Article 206 (1) of the Constitution establishes the Consolidated Fund into which shall be paid all money received or raised by or on behalf of the National Government,” he said.

“Section 206 (2) provides that funds shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund only in accordance with an appropriation by an Act of Parliament and in accordance with Article 222 or Article 223 of the Constitution.”

The US financial support for the Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti was exempted from the broader freeze on federal aid.

The move by police to deny reports the service had asked for budgetary allocations raises questions on who is behind the move.

Sources said the UN had raised concerns over the news the Treasury had made requests in Parliament for the Haiti mission.

Kenya police are part of a team in Haiti helping to fight criminal gangs.

The government had assured Kenyan citizens that the mission was not funded by taxpayers.

In a supplementary budget currently before the National Assembly, the Liaison Committee has accepted a Sh2.5 billion request by the national government to support the peacekeeping mission in the Caribbean nation.

Earlier, the government had sought Sh2.1 billion, with Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi explaining that the money would be refunded by the UN.

The conversation on who is funding the Haiti mission has never faded away in Kenya.

The 800 Kenyan police officers in the Caribbean nation left amidst resistance from a section of Kenyans who felt that the mission was not a priority to Kenya.

“The security sector has been allocated an additional Sh7.5 billion to the National Police Service, of which Sh5 billion is to address shortfalls in insurance costs and Sh2.5 billion to support the Haiti peacekeeping mission,” reads part of the committee’s report.

This marks the second time the government is seeking funds for the Haiti mission. Initially, it had requested Sh2.1 billion, with Mbadi explaining that the amount would be reimbursed by the United Nations.

“This money we are spending on behalf of the UN. We are the ones making the payment, so the money comes from our exchequer because these are our officers,” Mbadi said when questioned about the expenditure.
“So we pay and they refund, but now we have to recognise the expenditure because it was not in the budget. The law says two months should not elapse, and when we do supplementary budgeting, we will reflect it as both income and expenditure.”

The security sector emerged as the biggest beneficiary in the supplementary budget, with additional allocations to other key agencies. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) was allocated Sh9.8 billion for security-related operations, while the Ministry of Defence received an additional Sh6 billion, primarily to settle pending bills.

Last year, the Treasury disclosed that the Kenyan government had spent Sh2.1 billion on the Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti.

A letter from the Treasury to the National Assembly detailed that a total of Sh17.6 billion was spent under Article 223, which permits the government to make expenditures without prior parliamentary approval.

Of this amount, Sh2 billion was allocated to Kenya’s peacekeeping efforts in Haiti, contradicting earlier assurances that taxpayer funds would not be used for the mission.

The disbursement, made on September 18, raised concerns over the sustainability and adequacy of funding for the deployment.

In response to the concerns, Mbadi reiterated that while the funds were initially drawn from Kenya’s exchequer, they would eventually be reimbursed by the United Nations.

“This money we are spending on behalf of the UN, we are the ones making the payment so the money comes from our exchequer because these are our officers,” Mbadi said.

Haiti has been grappling with escalating gang violence, with the United Nations reporting that at least 5,601 people were killed in gang-related incidents last year—1,000 more than in 2023.

The UN also documented 315 lynchings of alleged gang members and 281 suspected summary executions by police. This violence has displaced over a million Haitians, according to the UN’s migration agency.

Gang control in Port-au-Prince has led to an almost complete breakdown of law and order, the collapse of health services and emergence of a food security crisis.

More than 5,500 people were killed in gang-related violence in the Caribbean nation in 2024 and more than a million people have fled their homes.