The United States has praised the contribution of Kenyan police officers serving in the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission in Haiti, highlighting their role in curbing rising gang violence in the troubled Caribbean nation.
On Friday, August 22, the US Ambassador in Haiti, Henry Wooster, commended the Kenyan contingent, noting that they had shown strong leadership and effectiveness in executing their mandate.
According to him, the presence of Kenyan officers has been crucial in calming the security situation that has plagued the country for years.
Wooster did not hold back in his praise for Kenya’s role. “The Kenyans have done everything we have asked them to do, everything we have asked them to do,” Wooster told journalists during a press briefing in Haiti.
His words pointed to the fact that the Kenyan police had met the expectations of the mission and had gone the extra mile in implementing anti-gang strategies.
Their success has been tied to several coordinated operations that helped reduce violent incidents in Port-au-Prince and other affected areas.
However, even as the ambassador lauded Kenya’s role, he also revealed that the US government is considering changes to the MSS mission.
He explained that Washington is preparing to expand the force and inject more resources to make the operations more effective.
Wooster said the intention is to strengthen the mission by increasing personnel, equipment, and the authority necessary to deal with the persistent gangs that have destabilized Haiti.
“We want to take this force, the MSS, and we want to alter it so that it’s better able. We want it to have all the assets, we want it to have the authorities, we want it to have the personnel and the equipment to do what’s necessary here,” he said.
The ambassador added that after a year of deployment, there is need for “corrections” and “recalibrations” to ensure the force matches the challenges it is facing on the ground.
These remarks come just two days after the US Deputy Chief of Mission Kimberly Penland announced that Washington is drafting a resolution to present before the United Nations Security Council.
The proposal is aligned with an earlier recommendation by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who has pushed for logistical and operational support for the mission, funded through peacekeeping resources.
If adopted, this would also come with structural changes to how the mission operates.
“Should the U.N. Security Council pursue this model, then we will also seek robust regional participation to provide strategic leadership of the force,” Penland told the Council.
Her statement suggests that the US wants broader involvement in the mission, beyond Kenya’s current leading role, and this could reshape how responsibilities are shared among participating nations.
The developments come at a time when Haiti remains in deep crisis. Gang violence has worsened, leaving thousands dead and many others displaced.
The streets of Port-au-Prince and surrounding regions are marked by kidnappings, extortion, and lawlessness that have weakened government authority.
While Kenya’s involvement has been recognized as impactful, the scale of the crisis has pushed the US and UN to rethink the structure of the mission to prevent further collapse of order in Haiti.
The commendation for Kenya may reflect both gratitude and preparation for a shift in strategy, as Washington looks to bring in more troops and more regional leadership into the MSS.
This signals that while Kenya has played an important role in the first phase of the mission, the next phase could see its influence diluted as global powers push for a wider coalition to stabilize Haiti.
