Kenya’s peacekeeping mission in Haiti has cost taxpayers Sh4.5 billion in nine months at a time the country is struggling to finance its own critical obligations resorting to deep budget cuts in key sectors like health and education.
Some 800 Kenyan police officers have been battling armed gangs in the Caribbean nation since June, last year, under an international policing mission approved by the UN Security Council but not led by the UN.
This arrangement means the Multinational Security Support mission relies on voluntary contributions from member nations and the funding crisis deepened after President Donald Trump froze $13 million (Sh1.7billion) in US funding that had been wired into the UN dedicated fund.
Citing the cash crunch, in January, this year, Haiti requested the UN Security Council to transform the Kenyan-led mission into UN peacekeeping operation.
Members of the first contingent of Kenyan police offers stand in formation after arriving in the Caribbean country as part of a peacekeeping mission, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti June 26, 2024.
Photo credit: Reuters
Jean-Victor Harvel Jean-Baptiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Worship of Haiti, commended Kenya’s determination to “fight by our side” but lamented to the Council that the mission “remains gravely underfunded and underequipped.”
On Thursday, the National Assembly approved government’s request for additional Sh7.5 billion to the National Police Service, which includes “Sh2.5 billion to support the Haiti peacekeeping mission.”
These are among extra Sh88 billion expenditures approved by Treasury as contained in Supplementary Estimates II for the financial year 2024/25 to meet government expenses until June 30.
The allocation for Haiti mission adds to another Sh2.1 billion that was processed under the Supplementary Estimates I towards the end of last year. On June 24, 2024, the first batch of 200 police officers left for the Haiti mission with the other 600 officers leaving early this year.
As a pointer to the financial strain foreign peacekeeping missions are having on Kenya’s budget, MPs also approved an additional Sh5 billion allocation to the Ministry of Defense to upgrade military weaponry for use by Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) in Somalia.
This is in order for Kenya to qualify for UN’s reimbursements for expenses the country incurs while securing Somalia under the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM).
“For Kenya to be allowed to deploy to the Mission and achieve full reimbursements under the UN’s Contingent Owned equipment (COE) system, the deployed equipment must meet the operational capabilities prescribed. The equipment serviceability state of Kenya is way below the UN Statement of Unit Requirement (SUR) due to extended deployment in Somalia against a proportionate budget over time,” says the report of the Liaison committee on the supplementary budget.
Kenyan police officers stand holding the national flag after landing to reinforce a security mission to tackle violence in Haiti, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti February 6, 2025.
Photo credit: Reuters
“The required funding of Sh5 billion is to facilitate the initial logistic requirement for deployment and take full opportunity of equipment reimbursement,” adds the report by the committee led by deputy speaker Gladys Boss.
Questions are however being raised about Kenya’s priorities, especially setting aside meagre resources for foreign interventions yet the government is finding it difficult to finance crucial programmes due to depressed revenue streams.
Health and education sectors are among hard hit with budget cuts with healthcare providers and teachers in constant strike threats over nonpayment of their dues.
The budget cuts will affect key priority areas including the Sh11 billion special global fund for malaria, HIV and Tuberculosis.
“The reduction in development expenditure affects key priority areas including donor funding to the special global fund for Malaria, HIV and TB under the National Treasury,” the committee says in a report to the House.
The parliamentary committee also raised concerns on the reduction of over Sh22 billion for water and sanitation interventions, Sh7 billion from the ICT sector as well as the reduction of Sh5 billion for power generation and transmission and over Sh2 billion reduction from the agriculture sector.
All the Haiti expenses for the current financial year have been processed through two supplementary budgets.
Members of the first contingent of Kenyan police stand in formation after arriving in the Caribbean country as part of a peacekeeping mission, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti June 26, 2024.
Photo credit: Reuters
Initially the government had assured Kenyans that the Kenyan mission in Haiti, being a UN mission, was to be funded fully by the world body.
National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has, however, previously defended the Haiti funding mission saying it will be recouped by the government.
“We pay the officers because they are ours, and they (UN) refund. What we are doing now is regularizing the expenditure because it was not in the budget passed in June last year,” Mr Mbadi said in November last year.
Mr Mbadi’s comments came at a time when the National Assembly was considering the supplementary budget I for the current fiscal period.
Other than the Haiti expenditure, the supplementary budget also includes Sh9.8 billion for the National Intelligence Service and Ministry of Defense (Sh6 billion) among others.
There is also the Sh19.68 billion paid in dollars to eight local banks towards the settlement of guaranteed debts to the Kenya Airways (KQ).
The mini budget significantly increases the government’s total expenditure and net lending by Sh98.8 billion, which is a 2.5 percent rise from the Sh3.88 trillion in supplementary I, bringing the total budget to Sh3.979 trillion.
The primary contributor to the increase is an additional Sh85.87 billion in ministerial national government expenditure.
Kenyan police officers patrol as part of a peacekeeping mission, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 17, 2024.
Photo credit: Ralph Tedy Erol |Reuters
But even as the MPs approved the mini budget, the Liaison committee of the National Assembly, which processed it, warned that despite the overall increase in total budget, development expenditure has been reduced by Sh51 billion.
The reduction of the development budget is on top of the Sh105 billion in development expenditure that was slashed in the supplementary estimates I for the current fiscal period approved towards the end of last year.
“The reduction in development expenditure affects “key priority” areas including over Sh11 billion donor funding to the special global fund for Malaria, HIV and TB under the National Treasury, reduction of over Sjh22 billion for water and sanitation interventions, reduction of over Sh7 billion in the ICT sector.
There is also a reduction of Sh5 billion for power generation and transmission and over Sh2 billion for the agriculture sector.
The committee further expressed concerns that the reduction in development expenditure as proposed in the supplementary estimates may have several negative implications on the delivery of key Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) priorities.
This, the committee says, potentially hinders the completion of ongoing projects, “leading to additional pending bills and strained projects.”
“This may further result in cost overruns as delays and interruptions often increase the overall cost of delivering development projects,” reads the committee’s report.
The Liaison Committee also warned that the increase in overall expenditures in the mini budget is not matched by a commensurate increase in revenue collection.
Haitian police officers and their Kenyan counterparts during a patrol in Port-au-Prince, Haiti June 28, 2024.
Photo credit: File | Reuters
The committee noted that the ordinary revenue collections target has been revised downwards by Sh50.1 billion from ShSh2.63 trillion to Sh2.589 trillion.
This is projected to increase the budget deficit from Sh768.6 billion to Sh864.1 billion, to be financed through increased domestic borrowing by Sh169.6 billion from Sh413.1 billion as it reduces external borrowing by Sh83.9 billion.
The main drivers of the lower revenue projection according to the committee’s report, are VAT and Income tax whose expected collection has been reduced by Sh29.5 billion and Sh15.1 billion respectively.
“The downward revision in the revenue collection target is in line with the revenue performance in the first half of 2024/25 financial year where KRA missed its VAT and Income tax collection target by Sh36.5 billion and Sh28.6 billion respectively.”
