For more than 5 years (2018 to 2024), Haiti has been facing one of the most serious crises in its history. The crisis is multiple but above all it is institutional. Certainly the theme that comes up repeatedly in the public debate is insecurity. But if the issue of security dominates the news, doesn’t it hide a much more complex reality? Where have the institutions responsible for security in the country gone? This sad and macabre reality to a certain extent exposes the problems of responsibilities and missions of the state apparatus and the actors. Is it not the responsibility of the elites (the ruling class) to think, plan and to a greater extent ensure national security? Is it not the responsibility of public authorities to guarantee the free movement of lives and goods? If in the original mission of the State, it is up to the State machine to successfully claim for its own account the monopoly of legitimate violence, in the current Haitian socio-political reality, does the State fulfill this role when we knows that armed groups are virtually establishing a parallel state? Under this view, and according to the Weberian conception, the State “holds the monopoly of legitimate violence”. On the institutional level, this translates into the institution of one or more public forces intended to guarantee rights and freedoms (Max Weber in The scholar and the politician).
Indeed, if we take into account the different parameters (responsibility, mission) of the state apparatus, it is clear that the problem is the result of a failed state. Let us note in passing that there is no longer any elected to power for ages and that the resigning transitional government has already spent more than 32 months in power without achieving the objectives it had set for itself. Consequently, the problem is above all of an institutional order because it is up to institutions and only institutions to address the problem of security (physical security, food security, etc.) and the generalized insecurity observed is the consequence of the inconsistencies of the actors who had the mission of ensuring the smooth running of public institutions. Nevertheless, it is clear that the security situation in the country (physical) is the most palpable manifestation of the decay of the State established in the country for more than 70 years already. Here, it is equally important to emphasize that the situation is getting worse when we know that UN and local agencies including RNDDH affirm that armed groups control not only the main roads of the country but above all nearly 80% of the capital. Hundreds of thousands of people, mostly young, emigrate to other countries. Several thousand displaced people, cases of kidnapping, assassinations, looting and fires have been recorded, etc. (Sources: RNDDH and IOM).
After several months of procrastination, the country is preparing to change course with new faces to form a new administration. Therefore, more than one wonders if this new direction would not be one more in the long list of administrations which have led us down the path of lost time? But taking into account the chaotic situation in the country, do we have the luxury to let this new team fail again? The situation is serious. We must commit to demanding better management of the country. We cannot afford to waste 2 more years taking into account the seriousness of the problem which threatens the very existence of the country. This untenable and unsustainable situation requires an urgent and effective plan (or even several) to stem this widespread chaos which is corrupting the country. Indeed, taking into account the complexity of the problem, we will urgently need a combination of responsible policies and experts from different backgrounds, particularly in the field of security, to provide rapid and adequate responses to the most urgent problems before to attack structural problems. Therefore, the first hundred days will be crucial for the success of this new administration which is looming on the horizon.
We will have understood this because it is obvious to everyone that the first public policies of the next government are expected in the field of security. It’s urgent. And as this concerns all Haitians, the failure of the next administration would be a setback for all Haitians. In this sense, I allow myself, as a committed and responsible citizen, to contribute as modestly as possible by making these few small proposals that follow. The latter are aimed at the first projects in the reconstruction of the country.
Considering the complexity of the situation and the various challenges awaiting the next administration, I have taken care to limit my small proposals to the first hundred days of their installation. Dear members of the next administration, I suggest that you implement these measures deemed coherent to properly carry out the country’s public security policies:
1- Declare the country’s state of security emergency during the first council of ministers after the installation of the next government;
2- Publish a special decree within a week in which you declare the various federated armed groups that actively operate in the country as terrorist organizations, requesting the maximum penalty for these criminals;
3- Revise the finance law in a maximum of one month to allocate between 30 to 40% of the budget for the sectors responsible for security, which implies a considerable increase in the budget of the ministries of Justice, the interior and defense ;
4- Create a citizen sovereign fund in which the Haitian people, particularly the diaspora, can help finance the war effort against terrorists;
5- Mobilize a body of volunteers well regulated by the law, limited in time and in number to fight terrorists alongside the police; and who will be able to integrate the priority lists of these republican institutions (Police/army) in the future;
6- Rethink the question of intelligence in the country, the strengthening of republican security forces, namely the police and the army… but for ethical reasons, I do not venture too much because I prefer to leave it to security experts. to explore this terrain.
MATHE Vladimir Estefano, teacher and specialist in public policies and territories.
Email: [email protected]
Sources:
Max Weber, The scholar and the politician, 1919
https://news.un.org/fr/story/2023/12/1141432
https://www.iom.int/fr/news/rapport-de-loim-96-000-haitiens-deplaces-par-les-recentes-violences-des-bandes-organisees-dans-la-capitale
https://unsdg.un.org/fr/latest/stories/plusieurs-vagues-dhaitiens-risquent-leur-vie-dans-des-voyages-en-haute-mer-la
