Par Ronald Colbert
P-au-P, 1er from 2024 [AlterPresse] — It is a coup, even a “coup d’état”, against the appearance of cohesion, which seemed to exist within the Presidential Transitional Council (Cpt), officially installed on Thursday April 25, 2024 at the National Palacesay many voices taken aback by what happened at the Welcome Villa on Tuesday April 30, 2024 and which the online agency AlterPresse became aware of.
A real hiccup in the process that was underway, the 4 sectors – Collective of political parties of January 30, 2023, the Democratic Resistance/Engaged for Development (Red/Ede) platform and the Historical Compromise political grouping, the political party Son of Desalin and the agreement of December 21, 2022 (de facto outgoing government coalition) – have decided unilaterally to override the vote previously planned for the choice of a coordinator of actions within the Cpt.
On the basis of a so-called “majority” consensus (4 out of 7 delegates), these 4 sectors, although signatories of the political agreement of April 3, 2024 which gave birth to the Presidential Transitional Council, designated, without a vote, Edgard Leblanc Fils (from the Collective of Political Parties of January 30, 2023) as coordinator of actions to come from Cpt..
“This agreement only binds this majority,” specifies Frinel Joseph, who plays the role of observer (and therefore does not have the right to vote in the Cpt).
The vote, which was to take place this Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in the presence of the press and representatives of the signatory sectors of the political agreement of April 3, 2024 creating the Cpt, was abandoned in favor of this agreement.
What is hidden behind this appearance of “political headlong rush”, of “political adventurism” (majority of 4 against a minority of 3), which risks causing unease within the Presidential Transitional Council, in the fragile context that Haiti is experiencing?
The other 3 sectors (political organization Avalanche familyAgreement of August 30, 2021 known as the Montana Agreement, will employers’ associations and groups of Haitian business women and men) be confined to the role of extras in the future decisions of the Presidential Transitional Council?
A disconcerting timing, chosen to display the always omnipresent political ambitions?
The timing, which appears to have aimed to manipulate public opinion, was scheduled on the eve of International Workers’ Day, May 1, a date traditionally also dedicated to agriculture in Haiti.
This Wednesday, May 1, 2024, global activities will not take place, due to the official day off.
Most traditional media observe this day off, without broadcasting their regular general information broadcasts on Haiti.
This position of the 4 sectors reflects the “old practices”, rooted in the customs of Haitian parliamentarians, in recent years, of putting forward a so-called majority to pass inconsistent and partisan provisions, to the detriment of the superior interests of the nation, to satisfy rather the gluttonous appetites of politicians.
Since Councilor Frinel Joseph speaks of a decision which only involves the “4 opportunistic sectors”, it is clear that the other 3 sectors were not consulted.
Hence a clear unease, which risks jeopardizing the next actions of the Presidential Transitional Council, for the benefit of dark forces who pull the strings to prevent Haiti’s progress on honest and non-mercantile bases of public management.
How should we understand this “lapsus linguae” or this “lapsus calami”?
In this same planned approach of Tuesday April 30, 2024, the 4 sectors mentioned had no qualms in declaring that they had chosen the named Fritz Bélizaire as future head of government, in defiance of the criteria already defined in the agreement of April 3, 2024, which indicates a contrary path.
Obvious error or not?
By citing the names of the 4 sectors bearing the blow of April 30, 2024, Frinel Joseph made a mistake by saying “Emmanuel Bélizaire”, instead of “Emmanuel Vertilaire” of the political party Son of Desalin.
The path taken by the “4 opportunist sectors” within the Presidential Transitional Council, which sectors pay no attention to the future consequences of their political maneuvers, reflect, at the very least, desires to force the approval of the next possible decisions, as for the choice of close personalities that they would invest in different levels of public administration… for a sharing of “job cakes” on the back of the national population.
Initial concerns about the Cpt’s chances of success then resurfaced with renewed intensity in Haiti.
38 years after the fall (February 7, 1986) of the Duvalier dictatorship, is the new structure called the Presidential Transitional Council heading towards an implosion or an explosion?
Increasingly dramatic realities, while politicians try their hand at more and more indecent negotiations and machinations
In the meantime, on the ground, several thousand people find themselves without homes, in May 2024, after having been chased, from 2023 to date, by the terror and violence of armed gangs, who continue to perpetrate in complete with impunity their crimes, such as assassinations, acts of kidnapping, systematic looting, theft, rape, criminal demands for payment of “rights of passage” in various points of the territory of Haiti.
All the prices of the most essential goods for consumption are continuously experiencing increasingly dizzying increases, which are considerably increasing the reality of terrible poverty among different segments of the population.
Which is in no way the concern of the proponents of the status quo, who pursue their dreams of taking it easy inexorably, to the detriment of the population, who, after 33 months of inept management of a de facto government of Ariel Henry imposed by the international community, wonders about his future…
The metropolitan area of the capital, Port-au-Prince is currently paralyzed by armed gangs, who are spreading terror there, especially since Thursday February 29, 2024.
From Friday March 8 to Tuesday April 9, 2024, (a number of) 94,821 people fled the metropolitan area of the capital, Port-au-Prince, to seek refuge in provincial towns.
From January to March 2024, around 2,500 people have been killed or injured due to armed gang violencean increase of 53% compared to the quarter from October to December 2023, according to a report from the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (Binuh), published on Friday April 19, 2024.
Since 2023, the violence has already caused the displacement of around 400,000 people, most of them in the capital.
In gang-infested areas, notably Artibonite (North) and the metropolitan area of the capital, schools are practically closed, as are various branches of economic and social activities. Agricultural production is seriously affected, hunger is gripping around 5 million Haitians (nearly half of the population), according to figures from the United Nations (UN). [rc apr 1er/05/2024 11:00]
