By Charilien Jeanvil, Alterpresse, Dec. 24, 2024
Civil society organizations, political groups and committed citizens are demanding change at the highest level of power in place in Haiti.
After 8 months in office, the Transitional Presidential Council (TPC) is struggling to deliver. Between its inability to address the problem of rampant insecurity and its involvement in corruption scandals, their failure is apparent.
Several representatives of the signatory coalitions and political parties of the from the April 3, 2024 Agreement expressed their disappointment during several interviews on the FwoteLide program on AlterRadio.
Magali Comeau Denis of the Montana Accord monitoring office believes that the governance of the transition must be rethought in order to get out of its slump.
The former Minister of Culture and Communication presented a catastrophic assessment of the current TPC membership, detecting a continuation of the deceitful actions of previous regimes.
Denis denounced the betrayal of the members of the presidential transitional council. She described 8 months of failure and opaque governance of the TPC, in betrayal of the framework and mechanisms defined for the transition. Denis castigated the TOC members for fighting for their own positions instead of reducing the state's standard of living, or appointing competent people on the basis of the recommendations of the established governing bodies.
She condemned the indifference of the power in place and the carelessness of the councilors in the face of the misery of the working class who face inhuman conditions and massacres.
Return to the initial proposal of a 3-member Council?
The representative of the Montana Accord advocates for the integration of new citizens, honest, responsible and upright in the management of the country. She proposes the collegiate formula of three (3) members minimum, five (5) maximum. She reports discussions between the different sectors and all the organizations for the materialization and adhesion to these proposals.
Magali Comeau Denis does not, however, support the option of a representative for each sector.
The priority, according to her, is to put in place governing bodies to address the country's problems, raising the need to make the Government Action Control Body (OCAG) effective.
She calls for the involvement of significant sectors and personalities aware of the gravity of the situation, urging the "silent majority" to speak out.
Opinions differ, at least slightly.
Dr. Jean Hénold Buteau of the Montana Accord maintains that the resolution to the problem does not necessarily involve a change in the TPC.
He does not see the relevance of replacing the current TPC. He states that the 3 indicted members must be set aside. He takes called on the other members to support this strategy. He is also not in favor of maintaining the observer members, recalling that from the outset the governance proposal was set at 5 members and not 7 or 9.
Buteau also calls on existing stakeholders to identify the antagonisms in order to better address the problem.
It presents a double challenge to be analyzed: the erruption of the popular masses onto the political scene and the emergence of new forces within the oligarchy.
According to Buteau, The TPC reflects the expression of the division that exists in the country, the extreme polarization.
The disagreements are therefore normal, but Dr Buteau attributes the rejection of Councillor Fritz Alphonse Jean by the Montana Accord to a democratic denial, arguing that the economist is the most legitimate representative at the TPC.
Dr Buteau nevertheless recognizes a sort of unilateralism and opacity in the management of the representative of the Montana Accord.
The question of insecurity, at the heart of the political debate
Buteau is not against Fritz Jean's proposal to a inddress security. The war budget proposed by the President-Counsellor must be accompanied by a foundation on security, Buteau added. He recalled that the Montana Accord had already initiated steps in this direction.
He advised those in power to pursue these strategies consisting of determining markers, ensuring fiscal monitoring, controlling customs, and cutting off the sources of money and supplies of the armed groups.
Buteau recommends the problem must be addressed tactfully, emphasizing the investigation of law enforcement and the investigation of the assets of state actors through legal mechanisms.
Buteau said society must organize itself to eradicate the phenomenon of gangsterization in the country.
Denis argued that the proposal for a war budget to better address the scourge of insecurity came too late. Denis said that Jean's proposal is a manipulation, arguing that in 8 months Fritz Jean has shown no real will to resolve the problem of insecurity.
The leader of the Montana group points out that the former governor of the central bank has refused requests from the board of the Montana Accord, to return the money allocated to the intelligence service and which was diverted by the advisers for personal purposes. This served to indirectly feed the gangs, Denis said.
Removal of current leaders?
Also speaking on the FwoteLide show was Liné Balthazar, president of the Haitian Tet Kale Party (PHTK). He stressed that during a recent meeting with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the supporters of the April 3 Agreement took stock of the situation and established the need to rectify the situation.
Faced with the failures of the members of the TPC, the non-implementation of the commitments that were made, and the obligation to put the transition back on track, Balthazar claims some of the attendees agreed to remove the current leaders and replace them with other representatives.
Balthazar explained that some groups have demanded the removal of the three members indicted in the National Credit Bank bribery scandal. Others have expressed the desire to keep the nine members of the CPT in place in their posts.
The position of the Collective of January 30, a structure to which Balthazar is connected, has evolved. The Collective, which initially demanded the exclusion of the accused, is now calling for new leaders to replace those in place, given the continuing deterioration of the situation in the country and the incapacity of the TPC to govern.
Balthazar then said that the Collective of January 30 had dissociated itself from its representative, Edgard Leblanc, and had recommended his withdrawal.
Finally, Balthazar says the current bicameral executive has failed in its mission to guarantee security and restore confidence, to begin a credible electoral process.
A proposal before Christmas?
These new leaders must reflect all of society. They must be able to resolve the security problem and the governance crisis in the country.
For the leader of the PHTK, the resolution of the security problem requires the recovery of the transition.
Balthazar noted that the violence is in some ways emanates from the crisis of governance.
He defended an inclusive governance formula and a consensus between the actors to get the country out of the impasse.
Balthazar also announced broad consultations in order to provide a proposal for ending the crisis before the end of the year.
Translated by CHIP editors
Posted Jan. 12, 2024