Senator Maanzo: Ruto was duped into signing Haiti deal

According to Maanzo, President Ruto failed to hold rigorous consultations before agreeing to the deal, only to be presented with major flaws that have led to a problematic mission.

"I've met Haitians in Washington D.C and they were lobbying that Kenya does not go to their country because this is putting blacks to fight with blacks. I thought President Ruto was duped and agreed to be duped in this deal," he told Citizen TV on Thursday.

"It was a bad deal and I don't think our people are going to be compensated sufficiently. This is now a burden of Kenya and they can't just pull out. Gangs in Haiti are tough yet you are poorly equipped."

Maanzo noted that the logistical challenges the Head of State decried this week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York point to poor preparation and ill advise.

Ruto said the underfunded mission has been operating at only 40 percent capacity due to a lack of promised personnel, equipment, and logistical support.

Senator Maanzo therefore urged the ruling administration to make well-calculated moves in the future to avoid a flopped mission like Haiti.

Appearing on the panel with Maanzo, Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei said that Kenya should streamline its communication protocols to relay important information in cases of killed officers or need for logistical support.

"I think the government should improve in information relay. I know there are protocols in information structure but in the future we should do better," he noted.

This comes after the family of police officer Benedict Kabiru, killed in Haiti, had been kept in the dark about their kin's whereabouts for months, only to hear President Ruto confirming his death in New York.

Kabiru, deployed under the Multinational Security Support (MMS) mission is suspected to have been killed by armed gangs in March 2025. Months later, Kenya’s National Police Service (KPS) was yet to confirm his death, saying a search is continuing.

On September 22, President Ruto told the UN Council; “I must use this occasion to honour the Kenyan officers, Samuel Kitwai, Benedict Kabiru and Kennedy Nzuve who lost their lives in the line of duty.”

This came amid heaping confusion as the Attorney General's office has told the court it has not received such information from the police administration.

Kenya leads the mission with 735 out of a total 989 officers, supported by contingents from Guatemala, El Salvador, Jamaica, The Bahamas, and Canada.

President Ruto has admitted that the mission was flawed, noting that most logistical vehicles second-hand and prone to breakdowns, exposing Kenyan officers to danger in hostile areas.

"Most of the vehicles were second-hand vehicles, and therefore, they broke down a lot many times. And in fact, it put our personnel in great danger when they broke down in very dangerous places," he said during his speech in New York.

“At least they stepped up. We didn’t, however, get any useful support from any other quarter.”