{"id":121962,"date":"2025-09-24T08:05:56","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T08:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/09\/24\/moses-kuria-blames-meg-whitman-for-kenyas-misadventure-in-haiti\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T08:05:56","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T08:05:56","slug":"moses-kuria-blames-meg-whitman-for-kenyas-misadventure-in-haiti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/moses-kuria-blames-meg-whitman-for-kenyas-misadventure-in-haiti\/","title":{"rendered":"Moses Kuria blames Meg Whitman for Kenya\u2019s \u2018misadventure\u2019 in Haiti"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 24 \u2014 Former Senior Economic Adviser to the President, Moses Kuria, has blamed former US Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman for what he termed Kenya\u2019s \u201cmisadventure\u201d in leading the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission in Haiti.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a statement on Wednesday, Kuria claimed that Whitman, who served in Nairobi between 2022 and 2024, wielded disproportionate influence over Kenya\u2019s foreign policy\u2014including the controversial deployment of Kenyan police officers to Haiti.<\/p>\n

He linked the mission\u2019s challenges, including resource shortfalls and weak international backing, to what he described as Whitman\u2019s unilateral decisions. <\/p>\n

He added that the Trump Administration\u2019s admission that the MSS lacks a strong UN mandate was only \u201cthe tip of the iceberg.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that the Trump Administration admitted during the special UN session on Haiti that MSS lacks a broad mandate backed by a strong UN Resolution is just a tip of the iceberg,\u201d Kuria said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Personal decisions\u2019<\/h2>\n

Kuria accused Whitman of exercising outsized power during her posting.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmbassador Meg Whitman literally ruled Kenya for two years. The Haiti misadventure was one of the many personal decisions that she took. Anthony Blinken was hapless in her wake. Kenya will be paying the price for terrible Meg\u2019s reign of terror for a long time to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kuria also paid tribute to three Kenyan officers who have been killed in the line of duty in Haiti.<\/p>\n

Kenya deployed its first contingent of 200 police officers to Port-au-Prince in June 2024, later joined by personnel from Guatemala, El Salvador, Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Canada. The force now totals 989 officers\u2014735 of them Kenyan.<\/p>\n

Kuria\u2019s remarks came just days after President William Ruto, speaking at a high-level event on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on September 22, criticized the international community for failing to deliver on pledges made to the Haiti mission.<\/p>\n

Ruto warned that the MSS, which Kenya has led since October 2023, is operating at only 40 percent of its intended capacity due to critical shortfalls in funding, equipment, and personnel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation in Haiti today is indefensible and simply wrong,\u201d Ruto said, stressing that unless urgent action is taken, fragile gains against powerful gangs risk being reversed.<\/p>\n

Inadequate support<\/h2>\n

He noted that promised deployments of 2,500 security personnel never materialized, logistical support remained inadequate, and many armored vehicles supplied were secondhand and frequently broke down in dangerous conditions.<\/p>\n

Despite the difficulties, Ruto insisted Kenya would remain committed to Haiti but stressed that any expansion of the mission must come with a clear mandate and predictable resources.<\/p>\n

The United Nations Security Council is expected to vote in the coming days on a resolution co-sponsored by the US and Panama that would replace the MSS with a larger Gang Suppression Force (GSF), backed by a Chapter VII mandate and comprising over 5,500 personnel.<\/p>\n

US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau echoed Ruto\u2019s frustrations, acknowledging that the MSS lacks both mandate and resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite overwhelming support of the UN Security Council, there are still those who might try to prevent its adoption or slow our response in Haiti\u2019s hour of need. The time for action is now. And the United States asks all our partners to join us in pressing for this critical resolution before the MSS mission mandate expires on October 2,\u201d Landau said.<\/p>\n

He emphasized that the resolution has Haiti\u2019s full backing and revealed that all 32 members of the Organization of American States (OAS) have signed a joint statement urging swift adoption.<\/p>\n

Haiti\u2019s transitional leadership has also appealed for urgent international support, warning that the state remains incapable of defeating entrenched criminal gangs without expanded backing.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 24 \u2014 Former Senior Economic Adviser to the President, Moses Kuria, has blamed former US Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman for what he termed Kenya\u2019s \u201cmisadventure\u201d in leading the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission in Haiti. In a statement on Wednesday, Kuria claimed that Whitman, who served in Nairobi between 2022 and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121962\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}