A draft of the decree obtained by AyiboPost suggests substantive differences between the current government and the position of members of the Presidential Council
Prime Minister Ariel Henry had announced his desire to resign, after the establishment of a Presidential Council and a government on March 11, 2024.
Since then, political parties and groups — supported by the Caribbean Community — have worked to select the members of this structure, as well as to formalize a legal framework for its operation.
A draft of the decree creating the Council from the government and obtained confidentially by AyiboPost, as well as a similar document prepared by the current members of the council suggests differences in funds between the two groups.
In its draft, the Presidential Council had reserved the position of Prime Minister only for the political parties forming the Council. The current version of the decree – which may still undergo changes before publication – leaves this door open to any Haitian, a source familiar with the process analyzes to AyiboPost.
The power to dismiss the Prime Minister is removed in the revised decree.
The draft of the Presidential Council decree had eliminated commitments made to CARICOM.
The decree that the government is preparing to publish incorporates all the elements stipulated in a document called “commitment” transmitted to the government by CARICOM, notes the source.
According to the draft decree, to be a member of the Council, one must accept the United Nations resolution for the deployment of the multinational force — which was not included in the draft decree of the Council.
Indictees, defendants, and those sanctioned by the United Nations, as well as those convicted in any jurisdiction, are not eligible to be members of the Presidential Council.
The Council wanted to create “sectoral cabinets”, each coordinated by an Advisor-President and distributed according to the following six major projects: security, elections, constitutional reform, the sovereign national conference, economic recovery and social recovery and humanitarian.
These firms do not appear in the latest version of the decree obtained by AyiboPost.
In addition, members of the Council are not authorized to be authorizers and accountants.
AyiboPost also obtained a document entitled “Political agreement for a peaceful transition” consisting of around fifty articles. This document provides details on the creation, operation and main missions of the Presidential Council.
According to the agreement, the Presidential Council, the Government led by a Prime Minister, and the Government Action Control Body (OGAC) are the three governance bodies that will ensure this transition.
The OGAC will be responsible, in the absence of parliament, for monitoring the actions of the executive. The guidelines and missions of this structure will be taken by order of the presidential council.
Other structures such as the National Security Council, the National Conference and the Constitutional Question as well as the Truth, Justice, Reparation Commission will subsequently be established, according to the agreement.
Security, constitutional and institutional reforms as well as the organization of elections are the three priorities of the presidential council.
It is not clear whether this Agreement reached between the current members of the Council will be taken into account by the government before the formalization of the decree by its publication in the Moniteur, the country’s official newspaper.
Cover image published by AyiboPost showing the current members of the presidential council.
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Widlore Mérancourt is editor-in-chief of AyiboPost and a regular contributor to the Washington Post. He holds a master’s degree in media management from the University of Lille and a bachelor’s degree in legal sciences. He was Content Manager of LoopHaïti.
