(1e part)
Finally! Since Wednesday June 12, 2024, Haiti has had a new interim government. He succeeded that of former Prime Minister Ariel Henry who himself was replaced by Garry Conille who came directly from the UN. He is the Regional Director of UNICEF. But, to reach this stage, there are so many twists and turns and combinations. First of all, there was a long process started by the Transitional Presidential Council (CPT) on May 12, 2024, two months after the official resignation of the head of the Transitional government. A resignation obtained by the crossfire of anti-government demonstrations and the armed uprising of gangs in the metropolitan region of Port-au-Prince on Thursday February 29, 2024, even though the occupant of the Prime Minister was abroad. Following this forced resignation, the Haitian protagonists had difficulty obtaining a consensus to replace the fallen power. It therefore took the support and above all the diktat of the international community, particularly Washington via CARICOM, so that a solution more or less acceptable to all stakeholders could finally be found.
It is the famous Presidential Transitional Council made up of 9 members, two of whom do not have the right to vote, which should play the role of head of the Executive Power. This is also a process that took a long time to come to fruition. Hence this delay in the appointment of a new Prime Minister who was to take the reins of the Haitian public administration with a view to preparing the ground for the organization of general elections in the country in order to close the first tranche of the transition begun since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. Before the arrival of this new Ministerial Cabinet led by Garry Conille, it is the Council of Ministers, placed under the authority of one of them, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Michel Patrick Boisvert, interim Prime Minister, who ensured the continuity of the State or carried out current affairs even after the appointment of Ariel Henry’s successor. After much procrastination between the 9 President-Advisors, on Saturday May 11, the decision was finally made to open registrations for the position of Prime Minister. It is a note from the office of the Haitian presidency which informed the public and interested parties that the process had begun.
“The Communication Office of the Presidency informs the public in general and the sectors forming the Presidential Transitional Council, political parties as well as other organizations adhering to the Political Agreement for a peaceful and orderly transition of April 3, 2024, in particular , that the CPT proceeds to the official opening of applications for the post of Prime Minister, as part of the establishment of transition governance. The candidates’ documents will be received, from May 13 to 17, 2024, in a sealed envelope, at the Villa d’Accueil, located in Musseau and at the following email address: [email protected]
In accordance with article 6 of the Agreement of April 3, 2024, applications must be presented by the sectors forming the CPT or adhering to the said Agreement. Candidates’ documents must be accompanied by a letter of adhesion from the sector to the Agreement in question. With reference to articles 51, 52 and 52.1 of the Agreement of April 3, 2024 and taking into account the urgency of establishing the transitional executive power, candidates must commit by notarial deed to submit, to later thirty (30) days after the installation of the Prime Minister, the following documents, under penalty of sanctions in accordance with the law: Police certificate issued by the Central Directorate of Judicial Police (DCPJ) or a criminal record issued by the TPI; Final income tax declaration; Certificate of Declaration of Assets », indicated the press release from the presidency dated May 12, 2024.
A competition which would give rise to a sort of drift to the extent that individuals of all kinds would almost invade the Reception Villa to apply by submitting their application. As well as the presidency’s email address, it will also be saturated by the number of emails received in the space of a few hours from citizens thinking that they are capable of fulfilling this high state function. Among the most serious, we can remember, among others, the names of Jean Rodolphe Joazile, supported by local organizations; Gérald Germain, for his part, chosen by several civil society organizations; Smith Magny, the favorite of certain youth associations; Garry Conille, “patronized” by the Rassemblement pour une Entente Nationale (REN), but in reality, he needed nothing and no one in Haiti. Since, and this is an open secret, the former Prime Minister of Michel Martelly and friend of Bill Clinton was, since the start of the operation, the winning horse of the international community, more precisely of Washington.
Ernst Pierre Vincent, sponsored by the Conference of Haitian Pastors (COPAH); Michel Brunach, dubbed by the union of journalists and press workers (SJTP); Alix Didier Fils-Aimé quite naturally sponsored by the business sector and the economic world; finally, Fritz Bélizaire, the same one who was designated on the same day of the election of the President of the CPT, Edgard Leblanc Fils du Collectif January 30, this time presented only by the Pitit Dessalines party of Jean-Charles Moïse; and we were even talking about Michel Patrick Boisvert, the outgoing Minister of Finance. In fact, according to the presidency, more than 200 application files had been submitted by the deadline. But, around sixty could hope to stay in the race, while very few had the chance to be part of the last four. Some came from sectors that did not sign the April 3 Agreement and did not even show allegiance or support to the stakeholders of the Agreement.
So they didn’t have a chance. After a first count, as was planned, the majority of applicants suddenly fell to 68 then to 23 candidates without any explanation being given by the CPT working in the greatest secrecy. Later, of the 23 candidates selected, we went to 13. Again, without knowing how this sorting was done or what criteria allowed these recipients to keep their place on the list. At the end, we learned that of the 13, we had arrived at a group of five finalists composed of Fritz Bélizaire, Didier Fils-Aimé, Paul Antoine Bien-Aimé, Jean Rodolphe Joazil and Garry Conille, the big favorite of whom everyone spoke. In any case, it was him or Didier Fils-Aimé, the envoy of the Economic and Business Community, who was from the start in pole position according to the bookmakers generally well informed of what is happening in the system. It must be emphasized that, since registration opened, no one really knows how the President-Advisors went about deciding between the candidates.
Working in an almost clanlike opacity, it was the rare people dealing with presidential files who filtered out scraps of information on the evolution of the process. We knew practically nothing about how to proceed with the CPT or the release mechanism to arrive at this final count to the extent that no press release from the presidency informed the progress of the files of the candidates for the position as head of the interim government. While the country was impatient to know the name of the lucky winner, on Saturday May 25, a President-Advisor, Frinel Joseph, without the right to vote, was to announce, sure of himself, on the broadcast Panel Magik, that the CPT was preparing a public debate between the five finalists of the competition and it was at the end of which that the 7 Councilors had to vote to elect the new Prime Minister. An announcement which had the effect of a bomb in the political microcosm of Port-au-Prince and among all the stakeholders of the April 3 Agreement. And for good reason. At no time in the said Agreement is there any mention of a public debate between the candidates to decide between them. In fact, some began by crying betrayal.
Others to the violation of this Agreement in which everything is written in black and white on the procedure to follow for the designation or election of the successor of Ariel Henry to the Prime Minister. The media also took up this matter of public debate by giving voice to certain protagonists and different sectors of society. This is how, invited on Monday May 27 on Magik9 to give his opinion on this question of public debate in the context of the appointment of the Prime Minister, Liné Balthazar, the leader of the PHTK party and the January 30 Collective, did not hide his anger and minced his words to call on the CPT to respect, according to him, the Stakeholders’ Agreement of April 3. For Liné Balthazar, the members of the CPT are playing with state decisions and with this story of debate for the appointment of the head of the interim government, there is improvisation. “The CPT cannot afford to improvise in a matter as important as the choice of a Prime Minister. The public debate mentioned in the press was the result of the Councilors’ improvisation.
Until now, the successful candidates had not been notified of the organization of such a debate. The Transitional Presidential Council must act according to rules and procedures made public and known to all. There is another problem in the process of choosing the Prime Minister: it is the fact that the Council has not communicated regularly on how it proceeded to go from 68 to 23 contenders for the post of Prime Minister , from 23 to 13, from 13 to five… The Council itself weakened the process by not having communicated and not having indicated the legal framework governing the choice of Prime Minister. The choice of a Prime Minister is a state mechanism and is not linked to a party or a collective of political parties. All state decisions must be adopted within defined rules, laws and procedures. The declarations of a Presidential Advisor are solely those of him and not the CPT. I am not aware that the Council has taken the initiative of organizing a public debate. I see this information circulating on social networks, in the press.
To my knowledge, there is no decision by the Council to organize a public debate” was to declare Liné Balthazar on May 27 on radio Magik9. If a large part of the population had approved this initiative of the CPT in order to give more credibility to the process, the actors, on the other hand, cried scandal, claiming that it was to better drown out the fish that the CPT wanted to embark on this adventure not in accordance with the Agreement of April 3. But there is also the categorical refusal of the arch-favorite among the candidates to come and debate with anyone. Indeed, Garry Conille, who was still stationed abroad and absent from the country for more than ten years, smelled a dirty trick on the part of certain members of the Council who were trying to favor their own candidates. The UNICEF Regional Director feared a “con trap” according to one of his close friends and knew full well that if he were to participate in this debate, his shortcomings on certain aspects of the country would quickly be seen. And that its four competitors will not do not hesitate to put him in difficulty in front of the country.
The senior UN official therefore decided to decline the invitation knowing that he did not need anyone in Port-au-Prince to come and occupy a position that he had already held in the past even if he did not He remained only a few months under the presidency of Michel Martelly. The proof that this announced public debate was precisely imagined with the aim of cornering the foe of the International Community, as soon as he announced that it was out of the question for him to come and take this grand oral, from Monday May 27, the presidency had announced that the public debate will not take place and that instead, the CPT will meet individually with the five candidates: Didier Fils-Aimé, Paul Antoine Bien-Aimé, Jean Rodolphe Joazil, Garry Conille and Fritz Bélizaire at the Villa d’Accueil on Tuesday, May 28 to audition them. And, at the end of this separate interview with each of the candidates, three had to remain in the running for the final sprint and a vote would decide between them. After the announcement of the cancellation of the debate, Garry Conille’s supporters pointed out that it was indeed a trap that the Councilors had set for their champion, otherwise they could have organized this debate even without the presence of the former head of government with the four others who were there.
In any case, with Garry Conille’s refusal to return to Haiti without being sure of going directly to the Reception Villa, the Advisors had deemed it pointless to waste even more time and above all they took the threats very seriously. veiled from the American authorities who, through a Tweet loaded with unsaid words from the US embassy in Port-au-Prince on Friday, May 24, asked them to carry out the process of designating the Prime Minister in complete transparency. “We welcome the information that Haiti’s Presidential Transitional Council has begun the process of selecting a Prime Minister and we look forward to a transparent process that will allow Haiti to have a Prime Minister and a transitional government selected on the basis of technical merit and impartiality,” Washington said clearly. A Tweet pushing them to backtrack that they did not even dare to proceed with the vote which was planned beforehand to decide between the 3 finalists.
Thus, on Tuesday May 28, 2024, the country learned that Dr. Garry Conille was unanimously chosen on a consensual basis. Clearly, six out of six Councilors chose the candidate that everyone knew was going to be designated by the CPT. Six Advisors out of six we say, because the seventh, Laurent Saint-Cyr, whose mission is to monitor and protect the interests of his clan from the economic sector and the business world who had supported the candidacy of Didier Fils-Aimé, one of them was absent from the country. Noticing that he could do nothing against the Garry storm, Councilor Saint-Cyr preferred to slip away abroad for a few days without giving a proxy or voting instructions, the time to let the Conille wave pass, just to get started. protected from the sanctions of the International Community in the event of abstention or negative vote.
The next morning, Wednesday May 29, the order appointing Garry Conille was published in a special issue of the Official Journal, The monitor No. 25, accompanied by the Minutes of his appointment. Immediately, that is to say as soon as the newspaper was published, Washington set the tone by congratulating Port-au-Prince for having named its champion. In a lengthy statement, US authorities said “The United States congratulates the Haitian Presidential Transitional Council on its appointment of an interim Prime Minister. We urge the Council and incoming Prime Minister Garry Conille to work collaboratively, and engage all stakeholders in support of the Haitian people, who continue to suffer from the brutality of horrific gang violence. The United States encourages the interim Prime Minister and the Presidential Transitional Council to act quickly to appoint a credible, accountable and inclusive government and a Provisional Electoral Council to enable free and fair elections, and the provision of security and services. basis for all Haitians.
The United States looks forward to working with Haiti to achieve these goals, particularly through the deployment of the Multinational Security Support Mission.” said Matthew Miller, State Department spokesperson. In truth, all the movements we have witnessed: submission of applications, letters of support, express CV, proof of address, all the hoopla, etc. were only cinema. The members of the Transitional Presidential Council knew full well that they had no room to make mistakes or get angry with Uncle Sam and that the Core Group kept watch for Washington from Port-au-Prince. In reality, from the opening of the process leading to the establishment of the Presidential Transitional Council (CPT), everyone expected that the international community, as in 2004, would bring back one of its men in its luggage of confidence to whom Washington could entrust the keys to “Maison Haiti”. Of all the names on the list, that of Dr. Garry Conille came out on top. As Me Gédéon Jean rightly said, “ The Tweet from the US Embassy had an impact on the process.”
The Haitian press, but not only that, the American newspapers regularly cited the name of this 58-year-old doctor, graduate of the Faculty of Medicine of the State University of Haiti, former Prime Minister of the Michel Martelly Administration, with which he had fallen out with after a few months of his arrival at the Prime Minister’s Office. In short, the appointment of Dr. Garry Conille is not a surprise to anyone in Haiti or in the diaspora where, moreover, an active campaign for his appointment as head of government was led by the pro-foreign occupation fringe. (To be continued)
C.C
