Multinational Security Support Mission (MSSM) to Haiti spokesperson Jack Ombaka has dismissed the claims that several Kenyan officers are nursing serious injuries in the Caribbean nation.
Speaking when he appeared in a televised interview with one of the local TV stations on the night of Saturday, April 5, 2025, Ombaka dismissed the claims as wishful thinking, noting that the injuries sustained are only slight.
He further pointed out that President William Ruto prayed for the officers when they embarked on the Haiti Mission and that God has always been on their side.
Treatment mechanism in Haiti
According to Ombaka, only a few officers have sustained slight injuries, and a robust structure has been put in place to ensure that all slight injuries are treated at the operation base, but there are cases where the officers are airlifted to the Dominican Republic with the aim of getting specialised treatment so that they can recover fast and get back to the operation.
“When we came here, the president prayed for us, and I can tell you for a fact that God has always been on our side. The so-called serious injuries are wishful thinking, and it is very unfortunate that there are people out there who are just praying for Kenyans to get serious injuries.
“I can tell you for a fact that we don’t have serious injuries, and those that our officers have suffered from—and thank God, out of the robust structures that have been put in place—any slight injury is either treated here at the base, but for speedy recovery, we take our officers to the Dominican Republic, where they get specialised treatment so that they can recover fast and come back to the theater. As we speak, all our officers who were injured in the line of duty are back at the base,” Ombaka said.
Ombaka on number of injuries
Ombaka went ahead to state that the number of the officers that have been injured and treated cannot go beyond three, noting that the last bunch of the injured officers got out of the hospital on Monday, March 31, 2025, and are now back to their operation base.
“God loves us. We just have a couple of officers who have been injured. The number cannot go beyond three, and all of them are back in the base. We have a helicopter that is used to evacuate them, and the last bunch of the three just arrived at the base this week on Monday, and we thank God for that,” he said.
Ombaka’s remarks come amid growing speculations that there might be several Kenyan police officers who have sustained serious injuries while carrying out the security operation in Haiti. Early this month, reports emerged that two Kenyan police officers had been seriously injured in clashes with gangs over the last week of March.
The two injuries were said to have come during routine patrols in and around the capital, Port-au-Prince, which is mostly controlled by heavily armed gangs blamed for thousands of deaths since 2021.
Ombaka had confirmed that the two officers had been evacuated to the Dominican Republic for medical care.