By Robert Berrouët-Oriol
Linguist-terminologist
Montreal, April 19, 2024
The article from Jonasson Odigène published in Haiti in Le Nouvelliste on April 16, 2024, “ The National Education Fund denounces a “smear campaign” and announces legal recourse », surprised and stunned many readers. This article, cobbled together in the light of weak intellectual laziness and devoid of the slightest analytical perspective, offers a complacent and one-sided forum to Jean Ronald Joseph, the current director of Fonds national education (FNÉ), without giving voice to the authorized voices of Haitian civil society in return, particularly those of teachers working in the education sector. Installed in December 2021 by the PHTK at the management of Fonds national educationJean Ronald Joseph inaugurated on April 16, 2024, during a press conference, a plea in defense of the “integrity” of his institution and denounced a “smear campaign on social networks” against his person and executives ” of FNÉ. Failing to present documents and sworn testimonies attesting to the veracity of this alleged “smear campaign on social networks”, the honest director of Fonds national education strived to denounce the “false allegations” circulating on social networks [tout en] pointing out the “politicization of an administrative matter”. The virtuous director of FNÉ made this press conference the launching pad of an acrobatic campaign of intimidation intended to curb any challenge to its governance and, above all, to evacuate any evaluation, any balance sheet, any accounting audit accessible to the public on the use of funds collected by the FNÉ.Wanting to be clever, the perilous campaign of intimidation launched by the director of Fonds national education is adorned with the toga of Law against the “detractors” who recover an “administrative file” for “political purposes”. The virtuous director of FNÉ also “announced legal recourse against those who orchestrated this entire campaign, specifying that an administrative and legal investigation is already underway”. Jean Ronald Joseph at the same time informed that a request was made to the Superior Court of Auditors and Administrative Litigation “for an audit of the management of [son] administration over the last two years. For its part, the Vantbèf info site, relaying information recorded on the official website of Fonds national education, specifies that “The number one of the FNE informed that defamation actions have been initiated in the courts against his detractors. “These attacks cannot hinder the functioning of the FNE. We will continue to work in accordance with the laws and standards in force,” assured Mr. Joseph. (…) As part of the PROSGATE program, the FNE pays nearly 4,000 contract workers on behalf of the Ministry of National Education. The Fund acts as cashier. And for the current financial year, the FNE has already authorized disbursements for three departments, explained Jean Ronald Joseph” (Vantbèf info site: “ FNE file: Jean Ronald Joseph clarifies », 16 avril 2024).
The press release dated April 16, 2024 and recorded on the official website of Fonds national educationhas the title “ Intervention by the Director General during the press briefing on April 16, 2024 “. We learn that “Since the beginning of the year, the sabotage file, by a former computer scientist of the institution, has been the subject of politicization in the media, thus exposing sensitive state data to the general public .As already announced, an administrative investigation is already underway to shed light on this issue and clarify the motives for this action. This manipulation and out-of-context use of this information has been taken advantage of in a denigration campaign against the person of the Director General and competent executives of the institution”. Furthermore, contrary to the assertion that the FNÉ would only act as a “cashier”, it is attested, on the official website of Fonds national educationwhat ” the FNE also intervenes in support of studies, financing of education and educational projects, support for the school canteen, acquisition of furniture and [du] teaching materials » (bold underline is from RBO). We will see later in this article if the official website of Fonds national education provides quantified, measurable and verifiable information clarifying its interventions in each of these areas… And since, according to the current director of Fonds national education cited in the “ Intervention by the Director General during the press briefing on April 16, 2024 », “The FNE recognizes the need to communicate more about its action [une] information campaign will be launched shortly to compensate for this deficit among the public who have the right to know.” And since, on the other hand, according to the director of FNÉ “No one is above the law,[en] case of irregularities the State provides for control mechanisms through the competent institutions”, it will be useful to determine whether the official website of Fonds national education provides access to the results obtained through these alleged control mechanisms… It will be equally useful to determine whether the official website of Ministry of Education includes quantified, measurable and verifiable information relating to the action of the Fonds national education in support of studies, financing of education and educational projects, including support for the school canteen, the acquisition of furniture and teaching materials, etc.
Unlike the complacent and one-sided forum offered by Le Nouvelliste to Jean Ronald Joseph, the current director of Fonds national education, without giving voice to the authorized voices of Haitian civil society in returnin particular those of teachers, the AlterPresse site, in its edition dated April 17, 2024, provides additional informative insight in these terms: “ [Jean Ronald Joseph] informs that it has formed a group of lawyers to handle the question of defamation before the Haitian justice system. Jean Ronald Joseph reports having sent a formal correspondence, asking the CSSCA to come and audit his management at the head of the FNE over the past two years. (…) As a state body, the National Education Fund complies with administrative requirements. One of the control institutions, which carries out audits for the FNE, is the Superior Court of Accounts and Administrative Disputes (CSCCA), he recalls” (see the article “ Haiti-Justice: The Director General of the FNE Jean Ronald Joseph rejects accusations of corruption against him », AlterPresse, April 17, 2024). In a very relevant manner and in the same article, AlterPresse reveals that “There is a wave of corruption in the general management of the National Education Fund, revealed activist lawyer Me. Caleb Jean-Baptiste, at a press conference on Thursday March 28, 2024. Caleb Jean-Baptiste pointed the finger, in these acts of corruption, at the current director general of the FNE, Jean Ronald Joseph, the former deputy for Marigot, DéusDéronneth, and the former secretary of state for communication, Eddy Jackson Alexis”. The site tandans7.org, in its edition of April 16, 2024, reveals the very recent existence of a petition initiated by the jurist Caleb Jean-Baptiste, “Corruption at the FNE: A petition launched by Me Caleb Jean-Baptiste to demand accountability “. This article states that “ Haitian lawyer Me Caleb Jean-Baptiste launched a petition to demand accountability in the case of squandering funds from the National Education Fund (FNE). These funds come in particular from the contribution of $1.50 from the diaspora and charges on telephone calls, crucial sources of financing for the education sector in Haiti.Me Jean-Baptiste calls on the justice system to take firm measures to fight this corruption scandal, in particular by freezing the bank accounts and seizing the property of the personalities involved in the embezzlement of funds. (…) The misappropriation of FNE funds is a hard blow for the Haitian education sector, because these resources were intended to finance essential projects for the development of the country’s youth. Me Jean-Baptiste’s approach aims to do justice and ensure that those responsible for this waste are held accountable to the Haitian population.”
It should be noted that during the press conference of the director of FNÉ on April 16, 2024 and attended by AlterPresse, Jean Ronald Joseph did not provide any official document attesting that he had asked “the CSSCA to come and audit his management at the head of the FNE for the last two years”. Furthermore, on the official website of Fonds national educationvery precisely in the sections “Our action” and “Press center”, we found no official document attesting that the current director of the National Education Fund would have taken the slightest step with the CSSCA with a view to an independent audit… These sections also do not record the slightest information attesting to the veracity of the allegations made at a press conference by the director of FNÉ on April 16, 2024, namely that he would have “formed a group of lawyers to handle the question of defamation before the Haitian justice system”. Also, the adventurous intimidation campaign launched on April 16, 2024 by the director of Fonds national education – even adorned with the toga of Law against alleged “detractors” whom he took care not to identify with his visor raised –, seems to be directly linked to the subculture of impunity which plagues Haitian society as a whole. It seems just as directly linked to the Duvalierian subculture of “legal bandits » promoted by the politico-mafia cartel of the neo-Duvalierist PHTK. NOTE – On “legal bandits”, see the highly analytical article by Laënnec Hurbon, sociologist, research director at the CNRS (Paris) and professor at the Faculty of human sciences from the State University of Haiti, “ Colonial practices and legal banditry in Haiti » (Médiapart, June 28, 2020); see also the article “ The philosophy of the “legal bandit” in Haiti: from verbalization to materialization », Trip foumi website, April 10, 2022. On the problem of impunity, see the rigorous “ Memoir on the fight against impunity in Haiti » developed by the Haitian Collective Against Impunity and Lawyers Without Borders Canada and presented on March 2, 2018 to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. See also the various reports and press releases from Amnesty International, among others “ Haiti: a new step towards the end of impunity » (June 6, 2001) and « Haiti will not forget the violations committed in the past » (April 26, 2013). See also the extensive and well-documented study “ State-sanctioned massacres: reign of impunity in Haiti » produced by the Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic and the Haitian Observatory of Crimes Against Humanity (April 2021).
At the bottom of the complacent and one-sided forum offered by Le Nouvelliste to the current director of Fonds national education (FNÉ), what does the reality of observable and verifiable facts teach us? What does the FNÉ and what is its mission? Since its creation, the Fonds national education has he ever presented at leasta public accounting balance sheet – carried out by an independent audit firm and/or by the ULCC (the Anti-Corruption Unit) on behalf of the Haitian State – colossal sums amassed then distributed in the national education system? THE official website of Fonds national education – which curiously displays on its home page the words “A General Directorate of the Ministry of National Education, which is false both legally and administratively” – includes four main sections which, according to their name, would be intended to inform: “The institution”, “Our action”, “Press center” and “Resources”. We will return to this later in this article.
The National Education Fund and PSUGO are at the top of a vast enterprise of corruption and misappropriation of state financial resources in the Haitian national education system
Operating from its beginnings without a legal framework, the National Education Fundwas formally created by the law of August 17, 2017 at the initiative of the two main bosses of the politico-mafia cartel of the neo-Duvalierist PHTK, Michel Martelly and Laurent Lamothe who, on several occasions, publicly attributed to themselves the highly revealing title of “ legal bandits.” In terms of the managerial practices of “legal bandits” working within the political-mafia cartel of the neo-Duvalierist PHTK, the renowned AlterPresse site – published in Haiti and renowned for the rigor of its press files – provides first-hand data on Laurent Lamothe’s glorious past as a businessman in Africa. Dated 1is April 2013, the AlterPresse article, “ Haiti-Politics: Laurent Lamothe turns to Ivory Coast “, informs that “The Haitian government, via its Prime Minister Laurent Salvador Lamothe, is heading towards Africa, particularly Côte d’Ivoire. “Business diplomacy” went to say that Haiti is open for business, on a continent where Lamothe made his fortune with his multinational Global Voice. Lamothe would have hoarded a large part of his fortune on the African continent with his multinational telecommunications company Global Voice. In the same article, it is specified that “Laurent Lamothe is considered a crook in Senegal. Because his main associates, in his company Global Voice, are currently in prison and he himself is on a list of wanted personalities,” reports lawyer Newton St-Juste, one of the guests on the show “ pick up » from the private station Radio Caraibes on Saturday March 30, 2013. The Prime Minister would be [à la] seeking “monetized mediation” with Ivorian President Alassane Ouatarra to quietly resolve his “problems” with the Senegalese justice system.”
It is attested that the National Education Funda vast gangsterized structure for “pumping” the financial resources of the State,created by the law of August 17, 2017has never been included in the official budget of the Haitian State.It is therefore an operational structure escaping any audit of the Haitian Parliament, an institution for controlling government action and which was atrophied and rendered obsolete by the PHTK. It is also attested that the FNE has not been the subject of any accounting audit carried out by the ULCC (the Anti-Corruption Unit) in the context where endemic corruption is a major social issue both in Haiti and internationally as evidenced by Transparency International in its study entitled “ Corruption in the education sector / Work document » (April 2007). For the record, it is useful to recall that “The Fonds national from himeducation (FNE) is an autonomous education financing body, placed under the supervision of the ministry responsible for national education and professional training and created by the law of August 17, 2017, published in Moniteur n° 30 of Friday September 22, 2017. The FNE enjoys financial and administrative autonomy. It has legal personality and its duration is unlimited” (source: official website of National Education Fund).
Statutorily, theNational Education Fund has the mission to participate in the effort of education for all and to manage the funds intended for financing education. (…)[Le FNÉ] operates in several areas, including infrastructure constructionthe renovation of school buildings, support for School canteen programpayment of school fees, payment of fees for teachers, provision of school equipmentfinancing of educational projects, support for higher studies. (…)The presidency of the board [d’administration du FNÉ] is ensured by the Minister of National Education and Vocational Training, the vice-presidency by the Minister of Economy and Finance » (source: official website of National Education Fund). [Le souligné en italiques est de RBO] The appearance of National Education Fund at the bottom of the structuring of corruption in the Haitian education system is a major subject of society and as such this “Fund” has been the subject of various analyses. It is worth mentioning the insight of Jesse Jean recorded in his “ Study of international aid for the achievement of education for all in Haiti » – Doctoral thesis, University Paris-Est Créteil Val de Marne, January 13, 2017. In this doctoral thesis, Jesse Jean specifies that “The Bill establishing, organizing and operating the National Education Fund (FNÉ) was never ratified by the Haitian Parliament. Thus, the use of the FNÉ is still not legal and taxes are collected every day by the Haitian state. In short, in 2013, two years after the creation of the National Fund for Education, the amounts collected for example from telephone calls were evaluated, according to the figures indicated by the National Telecommunications Council (CONATEL) at 58,066,400.63 American dollars. And taxes levied on incoming and outgoing money transfers amounted to more than 45 238 095 dollars US » (Jesse Jean,op.cit., page 132). NOTE / On the official website of National Education Fundit is specified that this “Fund” was created by the law of August 17, 2017; in the doctoral thesis of Jesse Jeanit is mentioned on page 132 that the FNE was created in 2011… There therefore seem to be discrepancies as to the “date of birth” of the National Education Fund. Thus, in the article “Haiti: UNESCO welcomes the creation of a national fund for education “, it is said that “The Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, welcomed on Tuesday the creation of a National Education Fund (FNE), launched by the recently elected President of Haiti Michel Martelly. The objective of this fund, whose creation was announced on May 26 [2011], is to mobilize financial resources in order to educate the most disadvantaged children. Endowed with 360 million dollars over a period of five years, this fund is the largest ever created for out-of-school children.The FNE isa multisectoral consortium which brings together the Haitian government, the private sector, international financial institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). It is mainly financed by the levy of 0.05 dollars on incoming international calls and 1.5 dollars levied on each international transfer of funds. ” (Source : ONU Info, June 14, 2011; italics and bold are from RBO). In this regard, we must not lose sight of the fact thatFNE consortium multisectoriel bringing together international financial institutions, is not included in the budget of the Republic of Haiti and is therefore not subject to the control of Parliament : he only reports to the political power held fraudulently for eleven years by the politico-mafia cartel of the neo-Duvalierist PHTK…
Which is similar to discrepancies as to the “date of birth” of the National Education Fund –2011 rather than 2017–, covers the reality that what will become in 2017 a state body placed under the supervision of the Ministry of National Education began to operate without a legal framework in 2011. In this regard, several fundamental questions remain open: (1)what is the total amount of money raised by the FNÉ from 2011 to 2024 ? (2)Have the total sums raised by the FNE from 2011 to 2024 been the subject of a financial statement each year (source of funds, revenue and expenditure, supporting documents) ? Even though the current director of FNÉ goes on a crusade against an alleged “smear campaign on social networks” targeting his institution, how is it that he has never presented (3)the financial statements (source of funds, revenue and expenditure, supporting documents) of theFonds national pour l’ education since his arrival at the management of this institution in 2021? It was noted that during his press conference on April 16, 2024, the current director of FNÉ did not present any official document entitled “ financial state ofNational Education Fund » covering the period 2021 (date of his installation as director) to 2024: Jean Ronald Joseph should know that the accounting audit that he believes he can request cannot be conducted in the absence of the financial statements of his institution… (4) Fourth major question: what justifies the financial state ofNational Education Fund, from 2011 to 2024, are the object of a total omertà, of a deafening “secret of the tombs » ?(5) Fifth major question: the appointment of Jean Ronald Joseph as director of the Is the National Education Fund constitutional and legally founded? ? Shouldn’t this appointment have been approved by Parliament? –it is true that in 2021 Parliament had already been “dismantled” by the PHTK, but the principle of parliamentary sanction remains founded since the 1987 Constitution is still in force. With this in mind, it is justified to maintain that all administrative acts carried out by the current director of FNÉ are unconstitutional and illegal – even if they were approved by the supervisory ministry, the MENFP –, and the current director of FNÉhas no legal provision to initiate “defamation actions (…) at the level of justice against his detractors” as he announced during his press conference on April 16, 2024. A sixth question must also be asked: (6) the 1987 Constitution and existing laws authorize a Minister to be Chairman of the Board of Directors of a State Autonomous Institution as is the case in FNÉ (« The presidency of the board [d’administration du FNÉ] is ensured by the Minister of National Education and Vocational Training, the vice-presidency by the Minister of Economy and Finance » (source: official website of National Education Fund). Seventh major question: (7) Is not there any conflict of interest when a minister, exercising a right of supervision over a state institution, is at the same time the president of the board of directors of this institution? This seventh major question must be put into perspective on the register of governance ethics especially since the minister in fact of National Education, Nesmy Manigat, recently held the position of president of the Governance, Ethics, Risk and Financing Committee of the Global Partnership for Education…Before writing this article, we read carefully the text of the “ Law establishing the organization and operation of the National Education Fund » (Le Moniteur number 30, September 22, 2017). In this document, we found no trace of the justification and/or legality of the appointment of a minister, that of Education in particular, to the position of president of the Board of Directors of an autonomous institution of State as is the case in FNÉ… In chapter 1 article 2, page 36 of the “ Law establishing the organization and operation of the National Education Fund », it is specified that the FNÉis placed under the supervision of the Ministry of National Education: no mention is made of the appointment of the supervisory minister to the position of president of the Board of Directors of the National Education Fund…
A vast structure for “pumping” and swindling the financial resources of the Haitian state, the National Education Fund has been the subject of numerous citizen denunciations as we explained earlier in this article. So, ” Since its creation, the National Education Fund has (…) been the subject of strong criticism, particularly for its secretive management. Indeed, no one knows precisely how much money has already been collected in the name of this organization by the Central Bank and CONATEL (National Telecommunications Council). The lack of transparency in the management of FNÉ even aroused concern among certain sectors of civil society. On this subject, here is what the leader of the civil society initiative (ISC) Rosny Desroches had to declare on August 7, 2012: “The direction that this Fund is taking worries us as citizens, because it goes in the direction sense of the concentration of powers in the hands of the Executive, the weakening of the Ministry and the negation of the democratic principles of participation, control, transparency, balance of powers” (…) Initially, when the head of the state [Michel Martelly] launched the National Education Fund, he planned to collect at least 180 million dollars on phone calls and the same amount on transfers for a period of five years. Which amounts to saying that he wanted to collect an amount of 360 million dollars over five years to educate 1.5 million young Haitians deprived of education. And according to the calculations made by the government, when it combines the two taxes, they should bring in at least 8 million dollars per month to supply the FNE. (…) On September 30, 2011, Michel Martelly’s main advisor in education, George Mérisier (…) announced that 28 millions dedollars US had already been collected as part of the financing of the National Education Fund. (…) The real scandal broke out when, on January 7, 2012, in an article in the New York Times, Denis O’Brien, founder of Digicel, declared that his company had already paid 11.1 million US dollars at CONATEL. He also indicated that he had spoken to President Martelly about the rumors concerning the 26 million dollars missing and that he was going to make it a personal matter. He calls for an audit. In a note made public on January 10, 2012, the company confirmed the boss’s statements and announced that the transfer of December fees would be made on January 20 for an amount of 1.945 million US dollars. Which leads to 13 million US dollars the total amount of fees paid only by Digicel to CONATEL without counting the other telephone operators present on the Haitian market” (New York Times, January 7, 2012, cited in the article “Where is the money from the National Education Fund? », Haiti freedom, January 29, 2013). Still in terms of revenues raised by the National Education FundJoseph Frantz Nicolas, the outgoing director general of the Ministry of Education, publicly declared that “with a little more 7 billion 521 million gourdes paid into this Fund, more than 5 billion 513 million were invested from 2018 to 2021 in various projects and programs summarizing the use of these funds during his 3 years in office” (see the article “ Haiti – Education: National Education Fund, 5 1/2 billion invested in 3 years », Haiti freedom, December 22, 2021). Joseph Frantz Nicolas, however, did not provide any documented information on a possible accounting audit of the use of these enormous revenues which, it must again be remembered, are not included in the Haitian State Budget and are not the subject to no control by Parliament.
Let the story go National Education Fund created by the neo-Duvalierist PHTK recalls that established by the dictator François Duvalier to establish a vast system of corruption and “pumping” of the country’s financial resources through the Tobacco and matches management from the mid-1960s. One of the operational characteristics of this management of gangsterized squandering was the use of a “ non-tax account » creating a tobacco monopoly. This system was subsequently used in other government companies which served as a slush fund and for which no balance sheet was found. In his famous work “ Color ideology and social classes in Haiti » (Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1987), the sociologist Micheline Labelle teaches us that “a large part of extra-budgetary revenues, coming mainly from the Régie du tabac et des allettes and representing at least 40% of total revenues of the State, largely fuels spending on military costs not incurred by the defense budget (Girault, 1975: 62). We know that this organization is the major provider of funds for the repression budget and that the government still refuses the taxation of its accounts, despite requests for administrative rationalization. [p. 30] of all international organizations to date. Of the Tobacco and matches management to the presentNational Education Fund which is not subject to the slightest control of the Haitian Parliament, moreover asphyxiated by the PHTK, the Duvalierist lineage is historically established and such historical data certainly does not appear in the criteria for attribution by the International of the large sums transferred to Haiti in the field of education. It is important to remember that the current holder in fact of National Education – brilliant economist by training, familiar with international administrative management procedures and with his time as president of the Governance, Ethics, Risk and Financing Committee of the Global Partnership for Education –, n is not without knowing that there is a direct historical relationship between the Tobacco and matches management and the National Education Fund. On this register, there is a common view among the best Haitian specialists who note that the “ selective amnesia » practiced with a master hand by the current minister in fact of National Education in the file of National Education Fundmakes him the intellectual guarantor of the PHTK’s strategy in the reproduction of systemic corruption within the national education system.
In the course of this article, we have exposed and exemplified the reality that the National Education Fundis at the top of a vast enterprise of corruption and misappropriation of state financial resources in the Haitian national education system. The colossal sums garnered by theNational Education Fundcited above,have not been the subject of any quantified assessment in the form of a summary table accompanied by a public and consultable accounting audit. These are, as specified above,: 180 million dollars on telephone calls, 360 millions of dollars over five years, 8 million dollars per month to supply the FNE, 28 millions dedollars USTHE 11.1 million US dollarspaid to CONATEL, then 13 million US dollars paid only by Digicel to CONATEL (New York Times, January 7, 2012, cited in the article “Where is the money from the National Education Fund? », Haïti liberté, January 29, 2013). To these colossal sums are added more than 7 billion 521 million gourdes paid into this Fund and more than 5 billion 513 millionof Gourdes invested from 2018 to 2021 in various projects and programs (see the article “ Haiti – Education: National Education Fund, 5 1/2 billion invested in 3 years », Haiti freedom, December 22, 2021).
On the register of accountability that Haitian society has the right to demand from directors of the National Education Fundand its supervisory ministry, the MENFP – where corruption and the squandering of the State’s financial resources reign openly and quietly – we carried out a methodical consultation of theofficial website of Fonds national education, in particular in the “Our action” section. This includes the subsections “School infrastructure”, “Education financing”, “Map of interventions” and “Events”. It is highly significant that the subheading “ School infrastructure ” ofofficial website of Fonds national educationdoes not present no summary table of all presumed FNÉ interventions in the field of school infrastructure from 2017 to 2024 (total number of interventions, nature and location of the interventions, duration and actual cost of each of the alleged interventions). The privileged information in the “Our action” section is rather of a declarative nature and the presumed achievements, subject of “reports”, are in no way attested by consultable documentation (example of report on the website of the FNÉ : « The FNE supervises several infrastructure projects in the Great South », 17 November 2023).
As for it, the subsection “ Education financing » does not present no summary table of all presumed FNE interventions in education financing from 2017 to 2024.Or It isprecisely in this chapter that all THE STRATEGIES OF INVISIBILIZATION of corruption and the misappropriation of financial resources from the education sector in Haiti are linked : MAKING INVISIBLE AND NON-TRACABLE THE VARIOUS OPERATIONS OF DIVERSION OF FINANCIAL RESOURCES OF THE EDUCATION SECTOR CONSISTS OF MAKING THEM UP, MAKING THEM UNAVAILABLE, EXTRACTING THEM FROM ACCOUNTING AUDITS… On theofficial website of Fonds national educationthe subsection “ Education financing » often resorts to “entertainment reports”, to “site inspection walks” of the director of FNÉ rather than the documented and analytical presentation of the financial management of all the alleged interventions of the FNÉfrom 2017 to 2024: this is precisely where the managerial opacity of the National Education Fundit is on this register that his “ squandering system » finds its most… profitable anchor. At this level and on a historical level, the “ squandering system » –as modeled in National Education Fundas indeed in PSUGO–belongs to the same team as that of the Tobacco and matches management by François Duvalier, to the “ Small projects of the Presidency ” of the grandmotherLavalassians, to the projects “ Help People » et « Carte rosehealth insurance to the population »of the PHTK of Martelly/Lamothe, as well as to the equally staggering and demagogic project « Electricity 24/24 » by Jovenel Moïse… It should however be noted that the “ squandering system » modeled at National Education Fund stands out from the others, which we have just cited, by its anchoring in a situation where the neo-Duvalierist PHTK has profoundly “dismantled”, atrophied and rendered obsolete the sovereign institutions of the State, with the high point being the hyper centralization of the three powers (the executive, the parliamentary and the judiciary) in the hands of a single man, Ariel Henry, the front man of the most mafia sector of the PHTK linked to the violent gangs which today sow terror on the entire national territory.
The « squandering system » modeled at National Education Fund is also at work in the scandal of the massive embezzlement of funds from the Petrocaribe program across the entire country. Thus, “The Superior Court of Auditors of Haiti deplores, in a new report published Monday, the fraudulent and often illegal management, by the various ministries and administrations, of hundreds of millions of dollars in aid offered by Venezuela between 2008 and 2016 (see the article “ Corruption: the Court of Auditors crushes Haitian power », La Presse, Montreal, August 17, 2020). The same article specifies that “The six Haitian governments which have succeeded one another since 2008 have launched for nearly two billion dollars of projects without, most often, worrying about the basic principles of the management of public funds (…)”. The information conveyed by the Haitian and foreign press confirms the reality of “ squandering system » in the management of Petrocaribe program funds. Thus, “(…) the Superior Court of Auditors of Haiti (CSCCA) published a 600-page investigation relating to expenditure of more than $2.3 billion linked to Petrocaribe between 2008 and 2016, when Jovenel Moïse finally won the presidency. The report shows almost 2 million dollars of questionable payments made to Jovenel Moïse in late 2014 and early 2015. The largest payment took place just days after he was registered as a presidential candidate for the ruling party” (see article by Jake Johnston, “ The international ramifications of the Petrocaribe scandal », Center for Economic and Policy Research,11 juin 2019).
In this context, it is unlikely that in a country plagued by corruption at the highest level of the state apparatus, the ULCC (the Anti-Corruption Unit) or the Superior Court of Auditors and Litigation administrative are “ authorized » by the PHTK to investigate financial embezzlement in the education sector despite their public denunciation by civil society institutions and the local press. On the register of the “ subculture of omertà » and impunity that the politico-mafia cartel of the neo-Duvalierist PHTK cultivates in the Haitian public administration, it is necessary to recall the only public position taken by the minister in fact of National Education Nesmy Manigat recorded by the Haitian press about the PSUGOthe second vast enterprise of corruption and embezzlement of state financial resources in the Haitian national education system: “The Minister of National Education, Nesmy Manigat, affirms that the 85 school directors recently arrested for corruption under the PSUGO represent only a small part of the embezzlement of public funds in the education sector. » And without identifying the institutional mechanisms of these embezzlements of public funds, he specified that “ Several hundred schools are involved in these embezzlements (…) recalling that corrupt principals have connections within the Ministry of Education » (see the article « Significant network of corruption within PSUGO », Radio Métropole, July 13, 2015). The school directors identified and their operational contacts within the Ministry of National Education have not been identified and even less brought to justice: they have benefited from the obscure impunity which is corrupting the Haitian social body as well as the institutions. from the country. The Haitian press noted that of thehis return, in November 2022, to the leadership of the Ministry of National Education, the same Nesmy Manigat quickly renewed the maligned PSUGO which he did not refrain from occasionally denouncing in July 2015… The media “super star” and ministerin factof National Education Nesmy Manigat – who in the recent past led the Governance, Ethics, Risk and Financing Committee at the Global Partnership for Education –, certainly has a very selective reading of the political requirements of the subculture of omertà » in the land of “sa eyes closed, mouth does not speak »…And as we explicitly explained earlier in this article, the “ selective amnesia » practiced with a master hand by the current minister in fact of National Education in the file of National Education Fundmakes him the intellectual guarantor of the strategy of the neo-Duvalierist PHTK in the reproduction of systemic corruption within the national education system. In this regard, we must not lose sight of the fact that according to the law of August 172017,the presidency of the Board of Directors of National Education Fund is ensured by the Minister of National Education and Vocational Training and the vice-presidency by the Minister of Economy and Finance » (source: official website of National Education Fund).
The economist and historian Leslie Péan is the author of the article “ Corruption and financial crisis in the times of Haitian cholera (2 of 3) » (alainet.org website, June 18, 2015). In this text of great analytical breadth, Leslie Péan explains that “The systematic plundering of public funds has also affected the education sector with the embezzlement of funds estimated at $100 million per year, collected from a fee of 5 cents ($0.05) on each incoming phone call and US$1.50 on each monetary transfer. In the first year, 766 fake schools were created and financed under the so-called Free and Compulsory Universal Education Program (PSUGO). This program was completely improvised and does not have the necessary safeguards. The Ministry of National Education is often in the red and cannot pay the schools participating in the PSUGO. In 2015, to justify the delays recorded in payments to schools participating in the PSUGO, the government whines, claiming that it only received $44 million of the $100 million that had been planned. No independent audit has come to prove this assertion. (…) According to a report produced in 2015 by the Union of Progressive Haitian Parents of Students (UPEPH), “ PSUGO subsidizes more than 2,500 ghost schools. These are created by departmental delegates, deputies from the Bloc for Stability and Progress (PSP), pro-government senators and government parties. The report indexes in scathing terms to say the least Kenston Jean-Baptiste, deputy for Cap-Haitien, who boosted 44 schools in the North, counting 812 beneficiaries. In the South, the report continues, out of the 79 private establishments subsidized by the PSUGO73 are referenced by deputies. “There are six departments of the country where parliamentarians are much more involved in cases of fraud of the PSUGO : Grande-Anse, the South, the North, Artibonite and the North-West” indicates the document. [Le souligné en gras et italiques est de RBO]
A vast operation of corruption and embezzlement of public funds, the Free and Compulsory Universal Education Program, the PSUGO, was launched in 2011 by the neo-Duvalierist PHTK. For the record, it should be remembered that the PSUGO was publicly supported and promoted by one of the Ayatollahs of Creole in the Transatlantic Review of Swiss Studies, 6/7, 2016/17 . Its author adventurously argues that “There are already laudable efforts to improve the situation in Haiti, where quality education has traditionally been reserved for the few. A recent example is the Free and Compulsory Universal Education Program (PSUGO) launched by the Haitian government in 2011 with the aim of guaranteeing free and compulsory education to all children. » This public support was also promoted in a propagandist video from the same Ayatollahs of Creoleextolling the alleged “educational” virtues of PSUGO, one of the flagship programs of the neo-Duvalierist PHTK politico-mafia cartel. In this video dated June 5, 2014, he fraudulently claims that “Gras a pwogram PSUGO a 88% timoun yo rive al lekòlannAyiti”…
The PSUGO was unanimously denounced by teachers and many sectors of civil society in Haiti: teachers’ associations, school directors and school parent groups have in fact publicly highlighted the systemic malpractices which have place at the PSUGO, as evidenced by several articles based on field observations and published in the press in Haiti: “ Psugo, a threat to education in Haiti? (parts I, II and III) – A process of weakening of the education system », Ayitikale je (Akj), AlterPresse, Port-au-Prince, July 16, 2014. See also on AlterPresse the series of articles « The PSUGO, a planned catastrophe » (parts I to IV), August 4, 2016. See also the very well-documented articles by Charles Tardieu: « Psugo, one of the biggest scams in the history of education in Haiti », Port-au-Prince, June 30, 2016, and “ The PSUGO and the universal schooling obligation – Planned disaster and violation of the rights of the nation and its children », Academia.edu, June 2016; see also the article “ The Haitian education system tested by multiple embezzlements at PSUGO » (by Robert Berrouët-Oriol, Le National, Port-au-Prince, March 24, 2022).
At the start of the article we reported that the director of FNÉJean Ronald Joseph, “announced legal recourse against those who orchestrated this entire campaign [et précisé] that an administrative and legal investigation is already underway. He also informed that a request was made to the Superior Court of Auditors and Administrative Disputes “for an audit of the management of [son] administration over the last two years. On the official website of Fonds national education, we have found no trace of administrative documents attesting to the veracity of these virtuous declarations, and several hypotheses will undoubtedly have to be examined on this subject. One of them is the momentumthe political context in which the director of FNÉ chose to make his public intervention while schools and universities are closed across the country. The context is that of the current security chaos, of the violent control of armed gangs over large portions of the national territory, where the PHTKist government of Ariel Henry has received a “new road map” from its international guardians through of a business club called CARICOM, the one where the PHTKist government, more virtual and “on orders” than usual, is presented as “resigning” and having to give way to an erratic “Presidential Transitional Council” which does not is reminiscent of the neo-Duvalierist CNG imposed on Haiti by the American Department of State after the defeat of the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1986. Feeling the wind turning and sensing that those who, in the politico-mafia cartel of Neo-Duvalierist PHTK appointed him to the position of director of FNÉ would have already packed their bags, Jean Ronald Joseph would have decided to take the lead and would seek to rebuild his political and managerial “virginity” by obtaining “discharge” from the Superior Court of Auditors and administrative litigation… In the kleptocratic subculture amply widespread in Haiti, the “discharge” is a sesame, a passport, a sort of providential armor capable ofinvisibiliser la corruption…
Il faut prendre toute la mesure que la question de la corruption et de l’impunité dans le système éducatif national haïtien n’est pas un épiphénomène ou un fait mineur de société ou une survivance collatérale accessoire de pratiques gestionnaires déficientes dont les ravages, connus et amplement diagnostiqués, pourraient comme par miracle être surmontés par des déclarations qui se veulent vertueuses sans viser les causes. Les trois millions d’élèves en cours de scolarisation dans les 17000 écoles du pays ont droit à une École de qualité, inclusive et citoyenne, respectueuse des droits linguistiques de tous les locuteurs. Pilier et vivier de l’avenir du pays, l’éducation n’est pas une marchandise à vendre au plus offrant et en toute impunité.Elle doit cesser d’être la «station de pompage» des revenus illicites des «contrebandiers brasseursd’affaires» nationaux embusqués dans ou en poste à la direction du ministère de l’Éducation nationale, du Fonds national de l’éducation et du PSUGO: l’éducation est un droit explicitement consigné à l’article 32 de la Constitution de 1987, et à ce titre elle est également un combat citoyen.
