The United States Ambassador to Kenya, Meg Whitman, recently apologized for the delay in allowances owed to Kenyan police officers deployed to Haiti for a peacekeeping mission.
During an interview with Citizen TV, Whitman addressed concerns raised by the officers' families, who revealed that their loved ones had not received their pay nearly three months after being sent to Haiti to help restore peace.
Whitman expressed surprise, noting that she only became aware of the issue through media reports. She stated that she immediately contacted Washington, D.C., officials to resolve the matter. Whitman assured that the officers would receive their compensation by the end of the week, acknowledging that the delay was unacceptable and should have been avoided.
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She emphasized that the peacekeepers should have been compensated when they arrived in Haiti and vowed to ensure that such oversights do not happen again.
This response followed a statement from Acting Inspector General of Police Gilbert Masengeli, who also promised that the Kenyan police officers in Haiti would receive their delayed pay within the week. He mentioned that measures would be implemented to prevent future compensation delays.
The delay in pay has caused significant hardship for the officers' families in Kenya, who have struggled to meet basic needs, including paying school fees for their children.
The United Nations, which sanctioned the deployment, tasked the U.S. with overseeing funding for the mission, including remuneration for the peacekeepers and the deployment of necessary equipment.
Although Kenya has so far deployed 394 police officers to Haiti out of a pledged 1,000, these peacekeepers have faced numerous challenges, including a lack of advanced equipment needed to reclaim territories controlled by criminal gangs.
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