By Robenson Geffrard, Le Nouvelliste, April 15, 2024
The nine political and civil society organizations that have appointed representatives to the Transitional Presidential Council are protesting against the major changes made by the Council of Ministers to the decree establishing the Council. In a press release dated April 13, 2024, these organizations stated that they are "deeply shocked to learn of the decree published on April 12, 2024 by the government presided over by the prevented Prime Minister Dr. Ariel Henry."
They denounce "the introduction of major modifications that distort the consensual project of a two-headed executive led by the Conseil Présidentiel de Transition, a consensus patiently and laboriously built between the Parties Prenantes from March 11, 2024."
Contesting the validity of the decree of April 12, 2024 published in Le Moniteur by the Council of Ministers, the parties involved in the formation of the Presidential Council denounce the fact that, according to them, "The resigning Prime Minister and his government have deliberately chosen not to respect the commitments to which they subscribed, through their direct representatives grouped within the December 21 Accord (cf. correspondence of April 1, 2024 addressed to the CARICOM Heads of State and Government by the signatories of the December 21 Accord, designating Dr. Louis Gérald Gilles as a member of the Presidential Transition Council). The stakeholders, including the representatives of this Government, have appointed their representatives to the Presidential Transitional Council under the conditions defined jointly at the meeting of March 11, 2024."
Secondly, these organizations recall in the press release that Prime Minister Ariel Henry came to power under exceptional circumstances linked to the assassination on July 7, 2021 of President Jovenel Moïse, due to three political accords, two of which were published in Le Moniteur.
The press release reads: "These exceptional circumstances were translated initially into the Accord of September 11, 2021, published in Le Moniteur on September 17, 2021 to consolidate the power of Dr. Ariel Henry freshly invested on July 22, 2021 by his predecessor Prime Minister a.i. Claude Joseph; these exceptional circumstances were translated secondly into the Accord of December 21, 2022, published in Le Moniteur on January 3, 2023, to extend the mandate of Prime Minister Ariel Henry until February 7, 2024".
To justify the publication in Le Moniteur of their Political Agreement and draft decree, these organizations state that "After some 33 months in power, these exceptional circumstances have worsened, with lost territories, floods of internally displaced persons, interruption of the country's supply circuits, dysfunctional public administration, etc. All this amply justifies the publication in Le Moniteur of the Agreement of April 3, 2024, creating the Presidential Transitional Council and setting up a Government of Rescue and National Unity led by a new President. All this amply justifies the publication in the Moniteur of the Agreement of April 3, 2024, creating the Conseil Présidentiel de Transition and setting up a Government of Rescue and National Unity led by a new consensus Prime Minister, in accordance with the commitments made, in the presence of CARICOM, by this de facto government."
According to the leaders of these organizations, in the absence of the Political Accords of September 11, 2021 and December 21, 2022, no member of the current government would have been eligible to be Minister or Prime Minister on the basis of the provisions of the constitution.
They say they remain attached "to the consensus built from March 11, 2024. This consensus is codified in the Accord pour une Transition Pacifique et Ordonnée (Accord for a Peaceful and Orderly Transition) signed on April 3, 2024 between various players, including the signatories of the December 21, 2022 Accord."
The Haitian stakeholders who signed the note "demand strict compliance with the commitments to which the resigning government subscribed during the CARICOM-led political process."
The parties involved in the formation of the Presidential Council request that steps be taken to: "publish in Le Moniteur the Political Agreement and the document on the organization and functioning of the Presidential Council; set up the bipartite handover commissions; install as soon as possible the Presidential Transition Council in the form and content defined in the Political Agreement for a Peaceful and Orderly Transition of April 3, 2024."
The signatories of this position paper are : Andrée Magali COMEAU DENIS, Ernst MATHURIN and Jacques Ted ST DIC for the August 30, 2021 Montana Agreement; Saurel JACINTHE and Vikerson GARNIER for the December 21, 2022 Agreement; Raina FORBIN and Pierre Marie Boisson for the Haitian employers' associations and business groups; Clarens RENOIS and Liné BALTHAZAR for the Collectif des Partis Politiques du 30 Janvier 2023; Leslie Voltaire for the Fanmi Lavalas party; Weesley PIERRE for the Pitit Desalin party; Sterline CIVIL and A. Rodon Bien-Aimé for Plateforme Résistance Démocratique (RED/EDE) and the Compromis Historique political group; Georges Wilbert FRANCK and Pierre Jean Raymond ANDRE for Groupe de la Société civile; René JEAN-JUMEAU Jean Lucien LIGONDÉ for Rassemblement pour une Entente Nationale (REN)/Inter-Foi.
In the decree published last Friday, the Council of Ministers did not appoint the members of the Presidential Council. As if to ensure compliance with article 135 of the Constitution, the government is inviting those involved in setting up the Council to submit the documents of their representatives to the Council for examination prior to their appointment.
Translated by CHIP editors
Posted April 21, 2024