{"id":1980,"date":"2016-11-08T00:17:18","date_gmt":"2016-11-07T23:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.ca\/?p=8"},"modified":"2016-11-08T00:17:18","modified_gmt":"2016-11-07T23:17:18","slug":"editorial-2-9-novembre-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/?p=1980","title":{"rendered":"EDITORIAL 2 – 9 novembre 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the wake of Matthew, the Privert-Jean-Charles\u00a0team shaken by incompetence and corruption<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the wake of Hurricane Matthew, the political discourse\u00a0centers on the incompetence of\u00a0the government team in managing\u00a0the humanitarian assistance.There\u2019s much finger pointing\u00a0at the officials who failed to set up\u00a0structures destined to help areas and\u00a0communities where there is the\u00a0greatest need for assistance. Besides\u00a0incompetence, Haiti\u2019s leadership is\u00a0accused of corruption following the\u00a0most devastating hurricane of the\u00a0season, which caused considerable\u00a0damage in the Greater South, the\u00a0Southeast and Norwest departments.\u00a0But such accusations don\u2018t seem to\u00a0worry the interim Executive, which\u00a0gives the impression of indulging in\u00a0the impunity usually enjoyed by\u00a0members of every Haitian administration.<\/p>\n

The controversial candidate to the\u00a0Senate for the department of Grande-Anse, Guy Philippe, didn\u2019t mince\u00a0words when he used the social media\u00a0to denounce the indifference of the\u00a0central government toward the victims\u00a0of Pestel, his hometown. He\u00a0said humanitarian aid has been\u00a0awfully slow to reach Pestel and the\u00a0Grand\u2019Anse department in general\u00a0where 80% of the houses are roofless\u00a0from the violent effects of the winds.<\/p>\n

The fury of heavy rains and raging\u00a0waters have done further damage\u00a0and decimated entire crops on which\u00a0the people depend to survive and export elsewhere, including the capital.\u00a0The idea of corruption existing at the\u00a0highest levels of the Privert-Jean-Charles administration resonates\u00a0strong ly, especially with the critics of\u00a0interim President Jocelerme Privert\u00a0whom they swear to remove from\u00a0power because his term had expired\u00a0last June 14.<\/p>\n

Following a surprise visit last\u00a0week at the SONAPI industrial park\u00a0in Port-au-Prince, Senator Youri\u00a0Latortue fanned the idea of corruption\u00a0related to the distribution of aid\u00a0to the victims of Matthew. Accompanied by his colleague Jacques\u00a0\u201cJackito\u201d Sauveur Jean, Senator\u00a0Latortue was checking on the veracity\u00a0of a rumor about construction\u00a0materials destined to the victims of\u00a0the hurricane in the Greater South being stored at the SONAPI. In fact,\u00a0the Senators saw lumber of various\u00a0sizes, nails, sheet-metal plates for\u00a0roof ing and similar items stored in\u00a0the courtyard of the SONAPI for\u00a0about three weeks. The Interior Ministry, which is responsible for these\u00a0materials, showed no eagerness to\u00a0deliver the items to the victims impatiently\u00a0waiting for help supposedly\u00a0coming from Port-au-Prince. Understandably, the impatience of the\u00a0suffering victims knew no bounds\u00a0when they heard through press reports that tons of products donated\u00a0by the international community were\u00a0being hoarded by the authorities.\u00a0Meanwhile, the officials attribute\u00a0this mishap to impassable roads linking\u00a0the capital to the affected areas.\u00a0In this case, how do they explain the\u00a0safe arrival of trucks carrying materials\u00a0to repair the Cathedral in Les Cayes, the capital of the Southern\u00a0Department ?<\/p>\n

It\u2018s curious and worrying that\u00a0Interior Minister Fran\u00e7ois Anick Joseph, formerly a senator from the Artibonite who was previously a priest,\u00a0would show such disregard for the\u00a0victims of Matthew. The Minister\u2019s\u00a0attitude triggered a strong response\u00a0from Senator Latortue, of the Artibonite. In comments made last week in\u00a0Parliament and widely reported by\u00a0journalists, the Senator spared no\u00a0words in exposing his grievances\u00a0against his former colleague.<\/p>\n

To one question put to him as to\u00a0what he would expect from the Interior Minister, Mr. Latortue exploded\u00a0by saying :\u00a0\u201cWe don\u2018t ask him to make miracles,\u00a0but we ask him at least to allow\u00a0minimal support to be offered to the\u00a0population. . . . It hurts me to see\u00a0that the almighty Minister of the\u00a0Interior can find money for anonymous\u00a0bonds he gives to whomever;\u00a0that he can find funds to reward his\u00a0supporters when he feels at risk; that\u00a0he can get cash from the issuance of\u00a0passports for ulterior purposes; that\u00a0he can even monopolize the Ministry\u2018s intelligence budget to do what\u00a0he wants. But he can\u2018t allow distribution\u00a0of sheet-metal to citizens who\u00a0are desperately waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senator Latortue went on: \u201cThis\u00a0Minister refuses to allow distribution\u00a0of food stored locally to the victims,\u00a0[fails] to unclog the roads, and organize water supply to disaster areas.\u00a0He can hold endless meetings, discuss\u00a0indefinitely with all the players\u00a0in Port-au-Prince, but he will not\u00a0bother to pay the salaries of state officials in the communal sections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senator Latortue is even more\u00a0critical of Minister Joseph, equating\u00a0what he\u2019s done to a crime of neglect\u00a0of the victims. He said, \u201cToday we\u00a0miss ed the opportunity to make\u00a0Minister Anick understand that not\u00a0coming to the rescue of a person in\u00a0danger is a crime. But the last word\u00a0is yet to be said.\u201d<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s much speculation\u00a0from all sides to explain the reasons\u00a0for the aid not being delivered to hurricane\u00a0victims, some parliamentarians\u00a0have accused Minister Joseph of\u00a0bribing members of the majority in\u00a0the Senate to scuttle a session where\u00a0he would have faced the music. A\u00a0more competent person, said the\u00a0Senator, is needed to manage the\u00a0Ministry of Interior during this time\u00a0of emergency caused by Hurricane\u00a0Matthew. Thus, he intends to make\u00a0all efforts to remove Anick Joseph\u00a0from his post.<\/p>\n

The facts seem to prove that the\u00a0Privert-Jean-Charles administration\u00a0rests on corruption and incompetence.\u00a0By doing very little to combat\u00a0these two scourges, and by not reining\u00a0in officials who practice them,\u00a0the Executive leaves itself opened to\u00a0the conclusion that the highest\u00a0authorities of the land have no problem\u00a0coexisting with them. Thus, the\u00a0Haitian people through their power\u00a0at the ballot box must oust the incompetent and corrupt leaders.<\/p>\n

\n

Cet article est publi\u00e9 par Ha\u00efti Observateur; VoL. XXXXVI, no. 40 New York, P.10 \/ 2 nov. 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the wake of Matthew, the Privert-Jean-Charles\u00a0team shaken by incompetence and corruption In the wake of Hurricane Matthew, the political discourse\u00a0centers on the incompetence of\u00a0the government team in managing\u00a0the humanitarian assistance.There\u2019s much finger pointing\u00a0at the officials who failed to set up\u00a0structures destined to help areas and\u00a0communities where there is the\u00a0greatest need for assistance. Besides\u00a0incompetence, Haiti\u2019s leadership is\u00a0accused of corruption following the\u00a0most devastating hurricane of the\u00a0season, which caused considerable\u00a0damage in the Greater South, the\u00a0Southeast and Norwest departments.\u00a0But such accusations don\u2018t seem to\u00a0worry the interim Executive, which\u00a0gives the impression of indulging in\u00a0the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,13,14,20,33],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}