Wandayi and Ichung'wah disagree on the deployment of Kenyan police officers to Haiti

The Star Kenya

National Assembly’s Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi and Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah disagreed on the floor of Parliament on the deployment of Kenyan police officers to Haiti. https://bit.ly/3QZsH0Q

Transcript

00:00 If it is the case that the request for the Kenyan government to deploy its police officers

00:07 to Haiti came from the UN, can we have a look at the UN Security Council resolution that

00:17 authorised this deployment?

00:20 Does it make mention of Kenya, even for a moment?

00:27 Does the UN Security Council resolution authorising this deployment make mention of Kenya?

00:32 It does not.

00:33 That is my submission.

00:35 And therefore we are basically getting into some kind of misadventure for reasons which

00:41 are not known to the rest of us.

00:44 The reasons could be known to a few people who are in the executive, but we want to tell

00:48 you that you cannot use our Kenyan...

00:50 No, no, please kindly give him another five minutes because he was interrupted severally.

01:00 You cannot use our police women and men as guinea pigs at the altar of rent-seeking.

01:10 Because we know for sure that the motivation for this misadventure is money.

01:16 Is money.

01:18 People want to use our helpless police officers as guinea pigs in their bid to get cheap money.

01:30 If you are sure that our Kenyan police officers are going to be safe in Haiti, first of all

01:37 start by taking there your child or brother or go there yourself.

01:44 Go there yourself.

01:47 And then they tell us, Madam Speaker, that you see the reason why Kenyan is leading this

01:52 mission is because Kenyan people have got the same skin complexion as the Haitians.

02:00 Are Kenyans the only black people in this part of the world?

02:05 Are we short of black people in that part of the world?

02:11 If you go to the Caribbean, the whole of South America, indeed even some parts of North America,

02:17 don't we have black people?

02:19 Are we the only black people in this world, us and Haitians?

02:25 What kind of nonsense is this?

02:30 Very parliamentary.

02:31 Because you cannot lead us to indulge in an illegality at the altar of rent-seeking.

02:39 And therefore with those very many remarks and to allow my colleagues to equally contribute,

02:44 I reject in total.

02:46 I reject in total this ill-advised motion.

02:52 This very ill-advised motion, I reject it in total.

02:55 And I want to appeal to my colleagues from both sides of the political divide to equally

03:00 reject this motion.

03:01 If only to save our country and the future of our children and our grandchildren.

03:09 Thank you, Madam Speaker.

03:10 Madam Speaker, allow me to first disabuse a lot of misinformation that has been given

03:15 by our colleague and my good friend, the Honorable Opeyo Wandai.

03:23 And I heard him, Madam Speaker, say that the UN Security Council Resolution 2699 of 2023,

03:31 that it does not even mention Kenya anywhere.

03:35 And I will draw him to page 23, actually the third page of the UN Security Council, and

03:47 he will notice that taking note of the call made by the government of Kenya on September

03:53 21, 2023, urging the United Nations to urgently deliver an appropriate framework to facilitate

03:59 the deployment of a multinational security support as part of a holistic response to

04:04 Haiti's challenges, calling on the Security Council.

04:08 And the whole document is replete with the mention of Kenya, even the Kenyan delegation

04:13 that visited Haiti to assess the situation in Haiti and report back to the Security Council.

04:19 Therefore, Honorable Speaker, let me first disabuse that notion that the UN Security

04:26 Council did not take cognizance of the role being taken by Kenya.

04:30 The issue, Honorable Speaker, is to note, and I think the Leader of Minority had not

04:34 read the committee's report that was tabled yesterday, because yesterday I was with the

04:37 Leader of Minority in Stony Avenue, deliberating on other matters of national importance, like

04:44 the cost of living, Honorable Speaker.

04:46 And therefore, he may have missed the tabling of the report, and because of the report here,

04:50 I will again share this report with the Leader of Minority.

04:56 Because Kenya is deploying our officers as part of this MSS team, the Multinational Security

05:06 Support Mission.

05:08 And Honorable Speaker, other countries, if you just go to the report, and I just want

05:12 to be very brief and draw reference to the report, that Kenya is a lead nation for the

05:20 MSS mission to Haiti, which includes -- because the Leader of Minority was asking emotionally,

05:28 "Are we the only Africans?

05:31 Are we the only black people, us, in Haiti?"

05:37 And this report that is before -- I'm sure it is in his office even, because his PA is

05:42 a very diligent officer -- says this mission includes Senegal.

05:49 Senegalese are Africans.

05:51 They are black people, like you and me.

05:54 Burundi.

05:55 Honorable Speaker, Chad is another African country that is in this mission.

06:01 Other partners in the Caribbean, the Americas, who are also of African descent and black

06:09 people.

06:10 Therefore, I just wanted, Honorable Speaker, to begin by disabusing that notion that it

06:14 is a Kenyan mission.

06:16 It is a multinational security support mission, which Kenya is honored to lead.

06:24 And as patriotic leaders, as Kenyan patriots, we cannot stand in our own National Assembly

06:35 and say that we are using our officers, who are very patriotic young men and women, who

06:45 have given their lives to protect life and property of Kenyans and people of the world

06:53 where they may be deployed.

06:56 And like the doctors affirm what they call -- what do you call it, Dr. Nyikawa?

07:03 The Hippocratic Oath or something, something close to that.

07:07 Our police officers and armed security men take an oath to defend life and to serve their

07:14 nation anywhere they may be deployed, including being deployed in the residence of our leaders

07:23 like Opeyo and I.

07:26 That officer guarding your house today and guarding your family is a patriotic young

07:31 man or young lady who has given his life to protect you and your family.

07:37 We therefore cannot disparage them by saying they are being used as guinea pigs.

07:43 They are doing their patriotic and national duty.

07:46 Thank you.

07:47 Thank you.

07:48 Thank you.

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