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Kenya Ignores Court Order To Join Occupation Of Haiti

The New England Human Rights Organization (NEHRO) reaffirms its commitment to promoting human rights wherever violations might occur. Therefore, the organization adopts a holistic approach to human rights, encompassing the right to life and liberty; freedom from slavery and torture; freedom of opinion and expression; as well as the right to work and education, to name a few. According to the United Nations, « everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination. » On January 26, 2024, Kenya’s High Court Judge Enock Chacha Mwita ruled that « any decision by any state organ or state officer to deploy police officers to Haiti… contravenes the constitution and the law and is therefore unconstitutional, illegal, and invalid. ».

CPK Applauds Court Ruling Against Kenyan Police Deployment In Haiti

The International Department of the Central Organizing Committee of the Communist Party of Kenya issued this statement in staunch solidarity with the January 26th, 2024 High Court ruling in Nairobi, declaring the deployment of National Police Services (NPS) officers to Haiti unconstitutional. Judge Chacha Mwita's articulate decision represents a crucial victory for constitutional principles and sovereignty. The acknowledgment that the National Security Council and NPS lack authority to deploy police beyond Kenya underscores the imperative of upholding the constitutional framework governing our government's actions.

The Year US Empire Faced Great Difficulties In Organizing Another Foreign Intervention

It took the U.S. government one year to push through the United Nations Security Council its project for a fourth foreign military invasion of Haiti, but even now it is not a sure thing. Although, on Oct. 2, the UN body blessed the “Multinational Security Support” mission (MSS) which 1,000 Kenyan police will supposedly lead, the Kenyan Supreme Court has given itself until Jan. 26, 2024 to decide on whether the Kenyan police can constitutionally be deployed abroad. Many Kenyan lawyers and opposition leaders say they cannot. Whatever the court decides, it is uncertain that Kenyan President William Ruto will respect it.

Kenya At 60: Field Notes From The Neocolony

Just four years after independence, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga published Not Yet Uhuru, a seminal political treatise of the new country. 60 years after independence, and 56 years after its publication, one might argue that nothing much has changed. As a nation, we find ourselves still grappling with the question of how Kenya became free with the greater portion of the arable land controlled by a handful of owners even as millions are squatters on their ancestral land.

Kenya Government Illegally Evicts Ogiek From Their Ancestral Forests

In the midst of King Charles’s state visit to Kenya, local authorities have begun brutal evictions of the Ogiek people from their homes in the Mau Forest. Rangers from the Kenyan Forestry Service and Kenyan Wildlife Service in collaboration with the Kenyan police are illegally evicting up to 700 Ogiek people from their homes in the name of conservation. Footage and images show Ogiek homes destroyed, some even burned to the ground. It has been reported that rangers are forcing some Ogiek people to tear down their homes themselves, in an attempt to claim that the communities are leaving voluntarily.

UN-Blessed MSS: A First Step Toward A Long Military Occupation Of Haiti

On Monday, October 2, 2023, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2699 authorizing a non-UN Multinational Security Support (MSS) force for Haiti. The resolution, adopted under UN Charter’s Chapter VII, was drafted by the United States and Ecuador. This Resolution represents the successful implementation of phase one Washington’s “10-Year Strategy for Haiti.” An U.S.-led invasion and 10 year occupation of Haiti is now imminent. Phase two of the “10-Year Strategic Plan for Haiti” was implemented in the summer of 2023. Phase two seeks to build a network of at least 250 U.S.-funded “civil society” organizations to influence public policy and decision-making as Washington oversees the reconstruction of Haiti’s state institutions and government.

The ‘Multilateral’ Invasion Of Haiti Is A Smokescreen For US Imperialism

On Oct. 2, the UN Security Council voted to approve a “multinational security support mission” in Haiti—ostensibly for the purposes of stopping gang violence and restoring law and order. Led by Kenya, this multinational force will be comprised of security forces from mostly Caribbean and Latin American countries. Despite receiving the blessing of the Security Council, this “security support mission” is not an official UN mission. Rather than being funded by the UN, the mission will be primarily funded by the US, which has already committed $200 million. This latest military intervention, should it materialize, will be the fourth foreign occupation of Haiti in 30 years.

The United Nations Pushes Haiti Under The Bus

Once again Haiti is the victim of imperialist intrigues, with no other nation willing or able to act on its behalf. The United Nations vote to authorize an occupation of Haiti, the tenth such occurrence in the last 30 years, was given tacit approval by Russia and China, who chose to abstain rather than use their Security Council veto power to stop this latest aggression. Thirteen other Security Council members voted to approve what is called a security mission that will quell gang violence. The mission is paid for by the U.S. Department of Defense, while Kenya is taking the lead by providing a force on the ground.

Kenyan Court Prevents Police Deployment To Haiti

On October 3, Kenyan President William Ruto welcomed the UN Security Council’s decision endorsing the deployment of foreign troops to Haiti. A Kenyan High Court has temporarily blocked the deployment of Kenyan police officers to Haiti after petitioners challenged the move. “A conservatory order is hereby issued restraining the respondents from deploying police officers to Haiti or any other country until October 24, 2023,” Judge Chacha Mwita said on Monday. The joint petition, filed by former presidential candidate Ekuru Aukot and others, argues that Kenya’s constitution restricts police officers ability to operate within the country’s borders.

Deploying Kenyan Police In Haiti Is Unconstitutional

The matter of Kenya sending 1000 police women and men to Haiti is but one of the many decisions our government is taking without our participation and consent. The Constitution is very clear that our foreign policy has to comply with the decrees of the Constitution. Foreign policy decisions by the government are unconstitutional when they violate any of the provisions of the Constitution. Article 1 of our Constitution decrees that all sovereign power belongs to us, the Kenyan people. Indeed, sovereign power is delegated to the national executive and can be exercised directly by the Kenyan people themselves.

Haitians Reject Kenya’s Plan For Armed Intervention

A Kenyan assessment mission arrived in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince on August 20 to evaluate the security situation in the Caribbean country. The 10-member mission met with senior officials of the de-facto government led by Ariel Henry, the police, and the diplomatic corps of other nations during its three-day visit, which concluded on August 23. The visit and the plan was condemned by progressive organizations and rights groups which strongly opposed foreign intervention. The delegation’s visit came weeks after Kenya offered to lead a multinational police force in Haiti to help improve its security and stem gang violence.

US Apparel Industry Endorses Looming Haiti Invasion

As the Biden administration works diligently to organize an invasion of Haiti – most recently with Kenya’s pledge to send 1,000 police officers – the sweatshop labor industry is celebrating. American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) president and CEO Steve Lamar applauded Kenya’s recent announcement that it would send 1,000 police officers in support of an “anti-gang” mission, telling the trade publication Sourcing Journal that it “reinforces that a country like Kenya has shared values, and shared prosperity, with the United States and with Haiti, and is trying to be a long-term partner. He added that, “There may also be some residual benefits to the U.S.-Kenya, and writ-large, the U.S.-Africa relationship.”

Who Is Hustling Who?

There should be no doubt that Kenya is in an intractable economic crisis. Filling up gas for a drive from Nairobi to my hometown in Limuru cost 10,000 ksh (about USD70). As a result of the high gas costs prices for everything else have gone up, including public transportation. And those who cannot hike up operating costs, such as the hordes of boda boda motorcycle taxis, are hardly making anything or operating at a loss. Tax hikes mean those who are employed are taking less money home. And no point in kidding ourselves, in a corrupt country some of that money being generated from the higher taxes is going to the politicians.

In Haiti, Kenya Chooses Imperialist Servitude Over Pan-African Solidarity

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) condemns in the strongest possible terms Kenya’s proposal to lead what amounts to a foreign armed intervention in Haiti. Kenya has offered to deploy a contingent of 1,000 police officers to help train and assist Haitian police, ostensibly to “restore order” in the Caribbean republic. Yet, their proposal is nothing more than military occupation by another name; an occupation of Haiti by an African country is not Pan-Africanism, but Western imperialism in Black face. By agreeing to send troops into Haiti, the Kenyan government is assisting in undermining the sovereignty and self-determination of Haitian people, while serving the neocolonial interests of the United States, the Core Group, and the United Nations.

Kenya Is Rapidly Emerging As Africa’s Renewable Energy Superpower

When William Ruto was sworn in as Kenya’s fifth president in September 2022, he used his inauguration speech to demand an end to humanity’s “addiction to fossil fuels” and reaffirmed Kenya’s commitment to reach 100% clean energy by 2030. Kenya is not far off this target today. In 2021, 81% of Kenya’s electricity generation came from the low carbon sources of geothermal, hydro, wind, and solar power. Over half of this low carbon electricity came from geothermal energy, which Kenya has in abundance. So much in fact, that excess geothermal energy is released during the night when electricity demand is low. Installed geothermal capacity in Kenya could be increased by at least eightfold, which could open opportunities for scaling up green manufacturing capacity or exporting excess electricity to neighbouring countries.

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Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

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