P-au-P, 10 from 2024 [AlterPresse] — The rotating presidency, proposed as a mode of operation within the Presidential Transitional Council (Cpt), would be “nonsense and total absurdity”, criticizes political scientist and economist Joseph Harold Pierre in an interview granted to the AlterRadio platform /AlterPresse.
The rotating presidency will not bring anything good to Haiti, particularly from an administrative point of view, he anticipates.
The rotating presidency requires a certain amount of time for a president to learn how to coordinate a Council, understand how it works and adapt to it, he explains.
In addition, the president of the Cpt maintains a close relationship with representatives of the international community. It will not be a good sign to change interfaces every 5 months with them, points out Joseph Harold Pierre.
The members of the Cpt would have opted for a rotating presidency to resolve the emerging crisis within the said Council, after disagreements over the manner adopted to designate, on Tuesday April 30, 2024, the former senator Edgard Leblanc Fils, as coordinator of this structure, followed by the proposal of a personality as prime minister of the transition.
4 coordinators – in this case Edgard Leblanc, Smith Augustin, Louis Gérald Gilles and Lesly Voltaire – should succeed each other, every 5 months, at the head of this Council.
Initially designated to be part of the rotating presidency, advisor Fritz Alphonse Jean would have withdrawn in favor of Smith Augustin.
This rotating presidency approach, contrary to the requirements of the agreement of April 3, 2024, signed between the sectors making up the Presidential Transitional Council, has been strongly criticized.
“The Presidential Council is coordinated by one of its members serving as President of the Council and chosen/elected in accordance with the Document relating to the organization and operation of the Presidential Council”, provides the agreement of April 3, 2024 concluded between the stakeholders.
The Presidential Transitional Council is made up of 7 voting members and two observers, from different political groups, the private sector, civil society and an inter-faith entity.
It was officially created, through a decree published on Friday April 12, 2024, by the outgoing de facto government in the official newspaper of the republic “Le Moniteur”.
“The Presidential Transitional Council is chaired by one of its members chosen by consensus or by a majority of them,” stipulates the decree of April 12, 2024.
To move to a “rotating presidency”, it would be necessary to modify the decree of April 12, 2024, support members of the Collective of Political Parties of January 30, 2023, a group from which Edgard Leblanc comes.
This point of view is shared by Raphael Andréfrom the Dessalinian Popular Patriotic Movement (Mopod) party, member of the Collective of Political Parties of January 30, 2023, who spoke to AlterPresse/AlterRadio.
“What is happening now is very serious,” said political scientist and economist Joseph Harold Pierre, deploring how “it is sad” to see the bad direction taken by the members of the Cpt.
He sees it as the beginning of a pre-electoral crisis.
This division could suggest that the members would also try to seek to influence the next elections in the country for their own benefit, says the university professor.
“This situation risks consolidating the spirit of instability in the country. This will be a bad precedent for the country.”
There is a serious problem with political culture in the country, notes Joseph Harold Pierre, criticizing the behavior of political actors who defend their personal and clan interests to the detriment of national interests.
He invites the members of the Cpt to become aware to facilitate the proper functioning of the Cpt, while calling on them to respect the agreement of April 3, 2024, “which is unlikely”, he says, because the actors are defending their own interests personal. [emb rc apr 10/05/2024 13:45]
