P-au-P, July 12, 2024 [AlterPresse] — For several weeks, members of the Transitional Presidential Council (CPT) and the transitional government of Garry Conille have continued to hold meetings in all directions, without implementing real concrete actions to respond to the needs of the population facing a serious security, humanitarian and economic crisis, notes the online agency AlterPresse.
The Presidential Advisor, Economist Fritz Alphonse Jean, reports having met with the Director General of the National Company of Industrial Parks (Sonapi), Petricks Justin, and the Director of the Hansae Haiti SA factory, Taeksu Nam, during a visit to the said company, on Thursday, July 11, 2024.
Employing more than three thousand workers in the textile sector, Hansae Haiti SA is said to be one of the largest companies in subcontracting to Sonapi.
The discussions between Fritz Alphonse Jean and Pétricks Justin focused on the situation of workers in factories, security conditions around Sonapi and the measures envisaged by the transitional government to secure existing jobs and attract new ones to the country, according to the information available.
The Transitional Presidential Council is going around in circles
Since his official installation, on Thursday, April 25, 2024, at the National Palace, the Transitional Presidential Council, composed of 9 members (7 with voting rights, 1 observer and 1 observer)seems to be slipping.
No social program has yet been implemented to address the suffering of thousands of displaced people (more than 600 thousand since 2023), who need urgent humanitarian aidto the most marginalized and poorest groups.
So far, the CPT and the government have not clearly stated how they intend to provide relief to the Haitian population, particularly the most vulnerable communities in working-class neighborhoods that are often victims of atrocities by armed gangs.
With the worsening of the multidimensional crisis that has had serious consequences in the textile sector, many workers, generally from these poor neighborhoods, have lost their jobs.
Having lost their regular sources of income, a significant number of households, who were already engaged in various informal activities, as well as many agricultural economic agents find themselves totally decapitalized, their investment funds and businesses having been ransacked/looted by armed gangs throughout the territory of Haiti.
In a note published in June 2024 with a view to questioning the Cpt on the catastrophic situation of Haitian workers, among others, l’organisation Antenna operator speaks of more than 20 thousand workers arbitrarily dismissedwho were not entitled to payment of their legal benefits, contrary to legal requirements.
Promises of support measures for businesses badly affected by the current crisis
During his visit, on Thursday, July 12, 2024, to the Industrial Development Fund (Fdi), Fritz Alphonse Jean spoke with the general director of said institution, Edouard Clément, who insisted on the Fdi’s commitments to work with the authorities to redress the difficult economic situation in Haiti.
Promising that the Cpt will work to restore order and security, with a view to allowing everyone to invest in the country without fear, the President-Counsellor acknowledged the disastrous situation facing investors.
On Wednesday, July 10, 2024, Fritz Alphonse Jean met with the Board of Directors of the Bank of the Republic of Haiti (Brh) or Central Bank, on the state of the monetary and financial situation, among other things.
There will soon be changes within the Board of Directors of the National Credit Bank (BNC), announces Jean.
Cpt optimistic, despite a gloomy economic situation in Haiti
Even if commercial banks are experiencing difficulties in the credit system, in this context of crisis, the country’s financial system would have sufficient capacity to resist…, declared Fritz Alphonse Jean, during this visit to the Brh.
However, economic activities continue to be influenced by the socio-political situation, which paralyzes the proper functioning of the productive system in almost all sectors in Haiti, warned the Central Bank in a note on monetary policy, covering the period from October 2023 to March 2024.
At the same time, the BRH asked commercial banks to grant a moratorium, until September 2024, to all those who have been severely affected by the current situation, without requiring the payment of penalties for the delays accumulated in the repayments of loans obtained.
Haiti’s economy contracted sharply, IHSI reports
“The conjunctural indicator of economic activities (Icae), published by the Haitian Institute of Statistics and Informatics (Ihsi), for the first quarter of the 2023-2024 fiscal year, reveals a clear contraction of the economy.”
This index shows a poor performance of the main sectors of the economy, with a decline of 3.8% of the overall index, noted the Brh.
The recurring scarcity of public electricity in Haiti
The unavailability of public electricity (the blackout) is an obstacle to development, admits the Transitional Presidential Council which visited Electricité d’Haïti (Ed’H), including the station at Delmas 33.
The public company Electricité d’Haïti (Ed’h) would need 300 megawatts to distribute electricity throughout the metropolitan area of the capital, Port-au-Prince, said Edh’s general director, Jean Errol Morose.
The Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communications (Mtptc), which oversees the Ed’H, is called upon to identify the problems at the Ed’H in order to provide rapid solutions, hopes the Cpt.
For several months and years, several neighborhoods in the metropolitan area of the capital, Port-au-Prince, have no longer been supplied with public electricity by the Ed’H, which is often the victim of acts of vandalism.
In early March 2024, armed gangs destroyed or rendered dysfunctional four substations in the metropolitan area of the capital, Port-au-Prince, as well as the Varreux power plant (Cité Soleil), denounced Ed’h, in a press release dated March 8, 2024.
“Important documents, electrical installations, cables, inverters, batteries as well as computer and office equipment were taken by these criminals.”
Furthermore, President-Counsellor Leslie Voltaire spoke with the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the private company E-power, Daniel Rouzier, during a visit to this institution on Wednesday, July 9, 2024.
Epower supplies 30 megawatts of electricity to Edh, which currently has 33 megawatts from Péligre (Plateau Central department) and the Vareux terminal, or a total of only 63 megawatts.
Exchanges between Garry Conille and various donors
Accompanied by government ministers, the transitional Prime Minister, Garry Conille, who took office on Wednesday, June 12, 2024met this week with representatives of the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the special representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Ecuadorian Maria Isabel Salvador.
The objective of these exchanges would be to share the priorities envisaged by the transition team, with a view to encouraging an appropriate strengthening of international support for Haiti.
Conille also discussed, on Tuesday, July 9, 2024, with representatives 
from several organizations in the Haitian protest sector, from specifications of different union organizations.
The demands of textile workers, merchants, clerks and thousands of displaced persons, victims of terror and other violence by armed gangs, particularly in the metropolitan area of the capital, Port-au-Prince, were particularly raised. [emb rc apr 12/07/2024 12:24]
