The Martelly government and the will to create a modern and hospitable Haitian society ...out of the medieval and inhospitable Haiti ...of which we are living in today ...in the year of our Lord - 2012

The Martelly dilemma

By Jean H Charles

This month of September brings back the specter of 55 years of a life of horror endured by the Haitian people.  It started with the Duvalier regime that haunted Haiti for 29 years (September 22, 1957, to February 7, 1986).  It continues with the bad memory of 20 years of pseudo Marxist regime of the Lavalas and Lespwa governments, Jean Bertrand Aristide and his nemesis Rene Preval (February 7, 1991 – May 14, 2011) with in between militarism disguised as a democratic carnival (1986-1991).

I thought that at least and at last we have a hoof with a good government that would ease the pain and the suffering of the Haitian people.

The President’s enemies

Joseph Michel Martelly, who followed the Preval regime, is facing, after one year in power, stiff opposition from several segments of the population.  I would divide this opposition into three groups.

There is first the factions of the old regimes, as well the majority of the defeated political class that is frustrated that this government with no political foundation and no political acumen could succeed where they have all failed miserably.  They intend to leave no room for action for the Martelly government to govern in peace.  They are like the scribes and the Pharisees in Jesus time, picking up faults in everything and everywhere.

Each action or non action of the regime is studied with a fine microscope lens for alleged infractions of the Constitution.  The president’s push, to establish a Permanent Electoral Board mandated by the Constitution some twenty five years ago, is facing stiff resistance by the political class, which is crying foul that he may be packing the Board with only his cronies.

They have found their hero in Senator Moise Jean Charles, a former mayor from Milot near the Citadel Henry, who became a senator due to President Preval’s good graces.

He has been pounding the Martelly government with big and small punches, one after the other.  It was first the issue of double nationality of the president, which was a mountain made out of a molehill; then a story of corruption with the then candidate, now President Danilo Medina of the Dominican Republic.  It ended as well as a storm in a teacup.

Senator Moise Jean Charles was recently at the Black Caucus of the American Congress in Washington DC drumming up support to seek the destitution of the Martelly/Lamothe government.

President Martelly has also amongst his enemies his best friends.  They have been his companions on the road for long time.  Their sense of entitlement to privileges and bounties of the republic seems without limit.  The life of luxuries of the friends of the regime is in stark contrast with the privation of the majority of the population.

President Martelly is also facing an opposition factor in the mass of Haitians to whom he has made the promise of lifting them from their sordid and miserable life in which they have been living for the past two hundred years.  It is the first time such a promise has been made to the Haitian people since the days of the founding father Jean Jacques Dessalines, who in 1804 exclaimed: “What about the former slaves?  Don’t they have also the right to enjoy the patrimony of the labour of their ancestors who toiled for three hundred years to build this nation!”

The Haitian people, with a zombie-like patience that accepted a de facto status that lasted for generations, are now awakening.  As a child not accustomed to the discipline of delayed gratification, as if two hundred years of ill governance must be corrected within one year; it is demanding results now.  Several demonstrations took place in the major cities, mainly Cape Haitian and Les Cayes.

But with unemployment hovering around 85% in the population, any demonstration can be bought on the cheap by Martelly detractors.

President Martelly has, to his credit, the confidence of the populace that he is filled with goodwill and he is definitely committed to changing the living conditions of the most desperate of the population.

His dilemma is how to go about moving mountains of structural problems that are not even on the agenda of policy solutions.  Haiti described by the Wall Street Journal as the poorest nation on the planet (it used to be the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere) is facing the same problems of non nation status as Central African Republic, its nemesis on the ranks of failed nations.

The Haitian dilemma

Its mass of poor and uneducated peasants, who lived in the mountains that are now depleted from its trees to prepare charcoal, the readymade cash crop, are invading the outskirts of the cities, creating insurmountable environmental problems of urbanization.

Will this problem be dealt with sentimental and cosmetic solutions or will the government, surrounded by competent and forward looking ministers, tackle the problem at its source, creating a nation out of the Republic of Haiti, one where its people will be no more nomads in their own country?  Travelling from hamlet to cities, and from there negotiating an illegal trip abroad in search of a friendlier sky!

The government is seeking new investment to provide jobs to the populace.  The issue of unemployment is a global one, whether in Europe, where Spain has 50% unemployment, or the United States, where young graduates cannot find a job and unemployment is at 15%.

Europe and the United States have the infrastructure, the security and the education level to produce jobs.  Haiti has none of these assets; it only has a large, resilient and non educated population with no infrastructure and limited security.  The factory jobs friendly to Haiti are in the garment industry, the Caracol experiment; it will produce in the long run, only frustration or a dream deferred.

The Haitian solution

Haiti should rely instead on its natural and organic assets to produce jobs in organic or nostalgic agriculture for export (to its own Diaspora), husbandry with a human touch, with chicken so tender that they are in the delicatessen sections of all the supermarkets of the world (as the Haitian mangoes) and arts and crafts so peculiar to the creative talent of a critical mass of the population.

Later it will capitalize on its fascinating scenic beauty to create a niche market for tourists not afraid of strong memories and emotions drawn from the year long religious and cultural festivals.  They can also hibernate in a setting where land, labour and material is still cheap compared to the rest of the Caribbean.

I have made the point often in this column that education is the key to future development.  The government has embarked on a project of reaching out to all youngsters who have been out of school for years.  It is not enough.  An literacy program spurred by the Cuban brigade is receiving scant support from the government.  Yet all the studies have point to the direction that there can be no development if the majority of the population is not highly educated.

Last but not least the government must accelerate its project of re-dotting the country with the Haitian army.  Haiti is suffering of a deficit in the perception of security coverage.  The new Haitian army will provide that insurance.  Haiti is no less safe than most of the islands of the Caribbean yet perception (as location in real estate) is all that matters!

In the end, the Martelly/Lamothe government will have to harness all its muscle to discard the feelings of those who fail in the past to be compassionate to the fate of the majority. It must understand that the problems of Haiti are first structural -- cosmetic solutions will only compound the problem.  It needs the best collaborators to define and bring about corrective remedies.  It must rein in the gluttonous thirst of its best friends who, like some of the Haitian generals after the Haitian Revolution, took the position that the return from Haiti’s independence was only for themselves and for their families.

It should not be afraid of educating the Haitian people about the concept of deferred gratification for a better good later.  Bringing solace to the Haitian people must start with hospitality in the smallest territorial collective, building development from the ground up.

Creating a nation is a hard concept at home and abroad, it demands strong leadership.  Go and ask Dr Lee Kuan Yew, the founder of modern Singapore. He was the laughing stock of the Western world twenty years ago when he enforced the punishment of a young American to a flagellum for throwing chewing gum on the street.  Yet he has now one of the most developed and richest nations on the globe!

Haiti as a forward looking nation at its creation can again become a lightning rod for itself and for the world if its government takes steps to unleash the creativity of each one of its citizens.  The Martelly government has the whereabouts to accomplish that feat if only it can head into the lessons of this essay and start demonstrating it has the will to create a modern, hospitable, Haitian society out of this medieval inhospitable Haiti that we are living into today in the year of the Lord 2012!

September 29, 2012

Caribbeannewsnow

Deconstructing the Haitian political crisis

By Jean Herve Charles



The Republic of Haiti is at a stalemate. A national election took place on November 28, 2010. It was encrusted with so much irregularity, government-led violence and polling manipulation, including international mishap and corruption, that the final results cannot be proclaimed. One of the most popular candidates, Joseph Michel Martelly, was relegated to the third place, denying him the right to a second round of balloting.

There was rioting, and protests all over the country. The candidates, the pundits and the electoral board as well as the international community are all shooting at each other, diverse formulas to redress this gross disrespect for the sacred principle of democracy, which is the right of the people to choose their own leader without interference.

Haiti, as most third world countries, is familiar with the strength of a long hand (national and/or international) that manipulates the electoral transition to ensure that political stability is equal to or tantamount to the status quo.

There was an election recently in St Vincent and the Grenadines. The people of St Vincent at home and abroad for the past five years in the media and out loud have cried out against the arrogance and the ill advised policies of their government. Yet at election time, the same Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves has been returned to power for the next five years, albeit with a slim majority.

Rene Preval, after two five-year, non consecutive mandates has led the Republic of Haiti with a desinvolture so pregnant with ineptness that all types of catastrophes are falling to his people, inundation with landslides, earthquakes with disastrous consequences, rampant disease such as cholera, causing thousands of deaths and immense hospitalization. Yet his slogan of political stability is translated into using all the state and international resources to put his own son-in-law into power to continue the culture of keeping Haiti in the state of squalor.

My eureka in the process of the deconstruction of the national and international link of the Haitian political crisis started in September 2009 at the Clinton Global Conference in New York. I was hobnobbing with world leaders when a personal friend introduced me to the mighty and the powerful of this earth as the next head of state of Haiti. One of them took my friend on the side and told her, “Do not listen to this lad; the next president of Haiti will be the wife of President Preval!” President Preval was not married yet to his present wife; the wedding took place in December 2009.

In the meantime, God himself got into the fray! A powerful earthquake on January 12, 2010 shook the land under the capital, Port au Prince, destroying most of the governmental buildings and killing more than 300,000 people. A plan B was designed by President Rene Preval. He would incubate the former Prime Minister Alexis as his successor. Alexis had a good following amongst the legislators, but he was decried by the people as a poor policymaker when they forced him out during the first stage of food riots that would circle the whole globe in 2008.

This choice was secretly endorsed by the international community. The American Democrat Party was ready to lend its best technicians in campaign practices to the Unity Party. I had no information or knowledge about the preferred candidate of the Republican Party.

At a conference organized by the OAS in Washington for the Haitian Diaspora to participate in the reconstruction of Haiti, I was warned by one of the operatives that my intrusion into Haitian politics was not welcome, Alexis was their man!

CARICOM, through their associate director Colin Granderson, was proposed and accepted to anoint, supervise, tabulate and give credence to the gross organized deception that the Haitian people have called a selection not an election. CARICOM has no funding for such operation.

Another plan was devised to have the American government and the American taxpayer pay for the macabre exercise. It did so to the scale of 12 million dollars, with no strings attach, with Mr Granderson doling out the dollars at his choice under the pretext of international observation.

Elizabeth Delatour Preval has other plans; she does not get along with Frederika Alexis, a strong willed lady in her own right. The reigning First Lady will not accept that the aspiring first lady occupies the National Palace. She put her veto to the choice. President Preval had to come up with option C. Jude Celestin, his aspiring son in law, was the nominee of the brand new party, Unity, reconstructed overnight as the Senate and the assembly deserted the president in his choice.

Massive resources of the national treasury brought some of them in line; Jude Celestin had an open checkbook to plaster the country with posters and giant billboards. His credentials for the top job of the nation has been honed by the president who created the CNE (outside of the governmental scrutiny) to build roads and provide national sanitation. He was also in charge of collecting the bodies after the earthquake.

The people of Haiti have decided to grant a failing grade to the Preval government that exhibited any constructive leadership under the lowest standard of good governance during the last five years. The balloting of November 28, 2010 reflected that evaluation.

Yet, through national and international connivance, (OAS, CARICOM and the Canadian expert in charge of the tabulation) a massive fraud was concocted to position the candidate of the government as eligible for a second balloting.

The people of Haiti as one have stood up to stop this gross violation of their rights. The political crisis has since been in full force. The Haitian Constitution has provision for such a crisis. A new government must be in place on February 7, 2011 to replace the Preval administration. In his spirit of callousness, he has avoided during the last five years to name a chief of the Supreme Court who by law would be named the next chief of state in case of political stalemate.

The Constitution foresees also the investiture of the oldest judge of the Supreme Court as president in case the chief judge is not available. The Haitian civil society, the international community, the political parties will agree to nominate a prime minister who will organize a government in the spirit of the Constitution to organize new elections and lead the transitional reconstruction of the country.

The people of Haiti have exhibited, according to the Wall Street Journal, a saintly patience and resilience during the successive waves of national trauma. Haiti is not St Vincent and the Grenadines; its patience with an arrogant and inept leader, unwilling and unable to hear and empathize with its suffering, is not without limit!

Stay tuned next week for an essay: One year after, taking stock of the Haitian situation: Building Corail or rebuilding Haiti!

December 25, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog Internaional

Wyclef Jean: A campaign in retrospect

by Joseph Crupi, COHA Research Associate


After prolonging his failed campaign for a month after Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) ruled him ineligible to run for the presidency, Wyclef Jean has finally dropped his appeal, officially terminating his presidential bid on September 21st. Jean’s recent involvement in Haitian politics was a source of controversy from the outset; many had cast him as an unqualified meddler, while others embraced his now defunct candidacy as a move to empower the youth and deepen democracy.

Jean’s decision to run for the presidency was greeted with optimism and hope by much of Haiti’s politically discontented populace. However, there were early signs that Jean was not the progressive candidate he initially professed to be. In an interview with MTV published on February 25, 2004, Jean had expressed support for the coup that ousted democratically-elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In reference to the militants who overthrew the former president, Jean said, “I don’t consider those people rebels. It’s people standing up for their rights. It’s not like these people just appeared out of nowhere and said, ‘Let’s cause some trouble.’ I think it’s just built up frustration, anger, hunger, depression.” Jean originally made these comments to MTV right as the events began to unfold in Haiti, before the involvement of the United States and other international powers had come to light. Therefore, Jean may have been able to excuse his politically improvident comments on the grounds of ignorance, but he removed any doubt about his political stance when he produced the 2006 documentary, The Ghosts of Cité Soleil. While the film received generally positive reviews, Jean’s depiction of the 2004 coup was historically inaccurate and politically biased. In the film, Jean paints sweatshop owners and neo-Duvalierists in a positive light, while implying that Aristide stepped down of his own free will.

Jean has also come under investigation for the mismanagement of his charitable organization, Yele Haiti. According to a tax document published by The Smoking Gun, Jean used funds from Yele Haiti for personal purposes, a claim Jean vehemently denied. However, the organization’s president admitted that Yele Haiti does have unusually high administrative costs, but he attributed the anomaly to the organization’s inexperience. An August 16 New York Times article details the dismal quality of service that Yele Haiti has provided to tent camps under its responsibility. According to residents of the communities, Jean’s organization has failed to provide them with food or water, ignoring pleas from the camps’ leaders.

Jean’s supporters advanced two primary arguments during his campaign. First, they claimed Jean’s celebrity status would draw much needed investment to Haiti. However, the reasoning behind this argument is not clear. Multinational corporations do not respond to celebrity, but rather profitability and investment security. In light of Jean’s mismanagement of Yele Haiti and his lack of economic knowledge, it is difficult to see how any corporation could view a Haiti under Wyclef Jean as an attractive business environment. Second, Jean’s supporters argued that his election would demonstrate that a Haitian could command the world stage. Jean certainly could command attention, but it is not the type of attention Haiti wants or needs. During his bid for the presidency, Jean was more of an embarrassment than a source of national pride. Had he been elected, it is likely that he would have been viewed as a novelty rather than as a serious spokesperson for a new, autonomous Haiti.

In late August, the CEP ruled that Jean, along with 14 other candidates, was ineligible to run in the presidential election. Although the CEP did not explain its decision, it is believed that Jean was ruled ineligible because he failed to satisfy the five-year residency requirement. After initially stating that he would comply with the CEP’s ruling, Jean appealed the decision, claiming he had been acting as a roving ambassador and was therefore exempt from the residency statute.

Through his subsequent appeal of the disqualification, Jean may have inadvertently reinforced the political corruption already entrenched in Haiti’s electoral process. The CEP is notorious for its politically motivated decisions, lack of transparency, and ardent opposition of former president Aristide’s political party, Lavalas. The media coverage of Jean’s candidacy, though, painted a far different picture of the CEP. In Jean’s case, there was a rational legal basis for his exclusion from the election, and many media sources phrased their reports as if the CEP had definitively and specifically ruled Jean ineligible under the residency requirement. The wording of a number of news articles gave the impression that the CEP had declared a reason for excluding Jean, which it had not, thus creating an illusion of transparency. Jean’s statements immediately following his decision to accept the ruling granted the CEP even more legitimacy in the public eye. Although he later appealed and claimed the CEP had used trickery to block his candidacy, Jean attempted to appeal within the structure of Haitian political law, which has no appeal mechanism. His decision to protest the election through official channels validated the authority of the CEP and bolstered Haiti’s corrupt political system.

After dropping his bid, Jean claimed that his “ultimate goal in continuing the appeal was to further the people’s opportunity to freely participate in a free and fair democratic process.” However, Jean has hardly been an advocate of democracy in Haiti’s past elections. Indeed, he failed to speak out when Lavalas presidential candidate Gerard Jean-Juste was jailed under false pretenses and barred from running in the 2006 presidential election. Jean was again silent in 2009, when the Lavalas party was barred from the legislative elections for failing to produce a document signed by its party leader, the exiled President Aristide. In 2010, the Lavalas party fulfilled all the necessary requirements to register for elections, yet they were excluded for their failure to produce proper documentation in the previous election. The ruling was upheld despite condemnation from the UN, the OAS, and members of the US Senate; predictably, Jean remained silent. Jean’s failure to speak out on behalf of Lavalas may be attributable to his roots in Haiti’s elite class, which has traditionally opposed the progressive reforms of the Lavalas party. However, his failure to plead the case of the 14 other candidates ruled out of the 2010 presidential election, many of whom had legitimate claims to candidacy, suggests his appeal was motivated more by a desire for personal advancement than by genuine democratic conviction.

In addition to his weak record of support for democratic elections, the notion that Jean would have been committed to cultivating a democratic society had he been elected is equally dubious. Indeed, democracy consists of far more than the freedom to vote. Broadly understood, democracy is the right of the people to govern themselves in pursuit of a just society. If elected president, Jean would have had neither the capability nor the intent to secure this end. Having lived outside Haiti for most of his life, Jean can hardly claim to be attuned to the burdens and desires shared by much of the country’s impoverished citizenry. Furthermore, while Jean provided a vague vision of reducing poverty and attracting foreign investment, he has not demonstrated the expertise to translate such a vision into practical policies that would further democracy. Moreover, the Haitian people have spoken clearly in favor of the reforms introduced by the Lavalas party under Aristide, yet Jean remains unequivocally opposed to the Lavalas platform, preferring instead to retain the neo-liberal policies of Haiti’s elite class.

In recent weeks, Jean has begun to show signs of stress. In response to allegations from Sean Penn that Jean had not had a visible presence in Haiti, Jean lashed out and accused Penn of using drugs. Shortly thereafter, Jean was hospitalized for stress related illness. According to his publicist, Jean had been “suffering from stress and fatigue based on the grueling eight weeks he’s had.” Jean’s inability to handle the demands of a short campaign demonstrated that he was certainly not ready to assume leadership of a country, and fortunately, he was never given the chance.

For months, Jean’s candidacy has dominated headlines in Haiti and elsewhere, overshadowing the efforts of the Haitian people to rebuild their country, fight corruption, and achieve a true democracy. Unfortunately, Jean did not offer a solution to these problems, only a temporary distraction. Perhaps now the world can turn its focus back to the real needs of the Haitian people, and Jean can return to writing music.

The Council on Hemispheric Affairs, founded in 1975, is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan, tax-exempt research and information organization. It has been described on the Senate floor as being "one of the nation's most respected bodies of scholars and policy makers." For more information, visit www.coha.org

October 6, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International