Corruption in Hati has a face, President Rene Preval

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Corruption in Haïti has a face, President René Préval
(04/04/10)

Figure 1: Paul Gustave Magloire

It was already known that President Préval was unable to deliver a speech, which could inspire the country.

Because in circumstances that most required him to do so, he abstained from such an obligation.

Such is the case that we just experienced when the Haitian nation was crying for the hundreds of thousands of her children who had died following the devastating seism of January 12, 2010. Mr. President had remained with his lips sealed and his first declaration was to complain to have lost "his Palace".

Therefore, we did not go to New York to listen to the usual inanities of the President (to say the least), but to see to what extent the international community was ready to support the Haitian people after we had just gone through the greatest tragedy of our history as a free people.

To that extent it was a success.

Not only for the Haitian people, but for all those of us who believe that change is possible and that this cataclysm, which did such damage to the country, can still be used to create a modern and prosperous country where everyone will live in peace.

The Inter-American Bank of development, the IDB, had estimated the rebuilding cost of the country at 14 billion dollars.

But, the General Secretary of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, probably already aware of the amount that would be allocated from the donors meeting, thought it best to make a request for 11.5 billion dollars in aids; and about fifty countries and several international organizations promised to give about 10 billion dollars in answer to the seism which devastated our country, leaving as a result of its passage 270,000 dead, hundreds of thousands of casualties, injured and orphans.

Indeed, the international community, through its principal representatives and the main international financial institutions, expressed the intention to provide the required assistance to the rebuilding of our country, which could amount to 10 billion dollars.

But, some doubt persists due to the possibility that this help can be transformed into a gold mine from which Mr. Préval and his cronies could draw to happily line up their own pockets.

Thus, the General Secretary of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, in his closing remarks, asked Mr. Préval, "to show transparency and responsibility" in the management of the funds generously being offered by the international community.

Is he really capable?

Will his patriotic bent win him finally over the corruption tradition of his government and his gang?

It is in this context that it is necessary to also understand the declaration of the Democratic Senator of the State of Vermont, Patrick Leahy, who speaking recently about Haiti, says clearly that: "In the past, billions of dollars have been wasted or stolen by corrupt governments, controlled by a few rich Haitian families.

Now, that the needs for the country are even more daunting than before, we absolutely need a credible project, which is based on the lessons of the past in order not to repeat the same errors over and over again".

Taking into account the situation of corruption which plagues the country, President Préval had accepted, during his last visit in Washington last month, that the funds given to Haiti go through an international control board, which will be co-chaired by the current Haitian Prime Minister and by the Special Envoy of the General Secretary of the United Nations, the former US president, Bill Clinton.

The international control board which the official name is Interim Commission on the Reconstruction of Haiti (CIRH) mainly consists of the countries that are the financial donor backers and a few Haitians.

In spite of this arrangement, plenty of doubt still persists with regards to the diversion of the funds allocated to the country; because everyone is fully aware of the fact that this government has mastered the art of swindling the international community.

Therefore, it goes without saying that the funds will be difficult to withdraw, because the representatives of the donor backers, who represent the majority in this commission, will take the time necessary to be sure that the money they authorize does not go directly in the pockets of those who are already licking their chops in front of what they view as a bargain opportunity.

They have experience on their side and furthermore, as it is commonly known, they also have the tacit support of the President of the Republic.

From his viewpoint, Mr. Rene Préval has never hesitated to show that he is the corrupter in chief and that he has even presided over the most vulgar attempts at corruption in the country.

One of these cases caused the death of Mr. Henry Robert Marcello, one of the finest expressions of the fight against corruption in the country.

The regime of Mr. Préval made an example with his case in order to create an atmosphere of fear for whoever wanted to consider opposing any corruption in the country.

Anyway, although we infinitely deplore the loss of Mr. Marcello, the system of Mr. Préval will never prevail.

There will always be Haitians worthy and courageous enough to oppose it, even to the point of the ultimate sacrifice.

Dear Mr. Marcello, we salute you, wherever you might be, with great respect and admiration and we are honored to have known you.
Of those who resisted the method of corruption created by Mr. Préval, we can also cite the case of the young students, the future of our country.

Several of them preferred to choose to go in exile from the country instead of yielding to the requirements of the President's team that wanted by all means to subject them to corruption.

Indeed, they are these young people, the promising generation, who have transformed the infamous exile into an act of heroism.

There is also the case of the trade unions of the transportation sector.

Many people will be surprised to know that, in spite of everything effort of Mr. Préval, this sector also did not succumb under the pressure of the obscure forces of the presidential palace.

For example, President Préval has certainly missed a great opportunity of an excellent project of modernization of the public transport system, by buying, at low bargain prices, buses that are not suited to the rigorous demands of the Haitian roads, just to make commissions.

When he thought that the trade unionists were ready to strike in protest, he did not hesitate to offer them a substantial subsidy of a million US dollars during the restart period of the school system.

But, the immorality in all of this is the following.

At about the same time he was dishing out these funds to the trade unionists, a hundred children had perished in the school collapse in the suburb of Nérette and there were dozens of casualties, primarily children.

The government of Mr. Préval had promised to give a support of a million dollars to the parents of the victims to help them recover from their disastrous situations.

But, the Minister of the Department of Education had been instructed to give those funds to the trade unionists instead in order to protect the government from the strike of the drivers; and in spite of the multiple requests from the parents of Nérette, they were totally overlooked.

In a last attempt to subject the most intransigent leaders of the trade-union sector, Mr. Préval did not hesitate to use his ruse and the influence that he has over the justice department to seek to jail them. Having failed in this attempt, he returned to the use of money as the principal weapon of subjugation.

And now, this weapon is skillfully used by Mr. Préval and his cronies who are thinking that any resistance will become absolutely futile when they eventually have in their possession the funds that the international community has chosen to allocate for the reconstruction of Haiti.

We could continue to elaborate on the misdeeds of Mr. Préval, but after that we would have to prohibit the reading of this text to the children of less than 18 years old. Because, we could have exposed one of the gangsters, who was hired by Mr. Préval before he was arrested by the French police, by describing the dreadful conditions in which Mr. Marcello was assassinated.

As we all know, the Republic has never gone down as low as it has gone during our present time. All the corruption meetings have been held at the presidential palace, sometimes under the direct supervision of Mr. Préval or one of his very close associates.

And repugnant activities have been dispatched from the presidential quarters.

For example, Mr. Préval, instead of presiding over free, honest and all inclusive elections, took advantage of the weakness of the political parties to humiliate them in front of the entire nation by holding fraudulent elections.

For some time now, the journalists and the media in general are targeted.

The press employees who seek to resist the attempts at corruption of the government know that they must censor themselves, or they are likely to lose their employment or even the worst could happen.

Indeed, the method of persuasion can be subtle, yet forceful and heavy-handed.

It is within this framework that we are moving forward towards a case of genocide against the Haitian people and this issue is dealt with in a duplicitous silence by the press.

Indeed, immediately after the earthquake, we publically proposed to the government of Mr. Préval the launching of a program of depopulation of the capital.

Because, as it has been accepted today by several important members of the international community, it is still the best way to protect the hundreds of thousands of homeless people.

Mr. Préval and his cronies thought preferably that the presence of these masses of people in the capital represented for them a bargaining chip. He wanted to use the survivors of the disaster to apply pressure on the international community in order to obtain assistance from them.
Thus, they could make money by supplying those who have been living in the camps in Port-au-Prince with the money provided for the assistance.

Journalists fell into the trap in believing that Mr. Préval was motivated by his love of the nation when he asked that the emergency period be held back a bit in order to allow the aid agencies to buy the local products.

That was false.

Mr. Préval, since his accession to power for his second mandate, was interested in only one thing, to enrich his posse.

Thus, it is to benefit his cohorts and his friends who are the leading vendors to the tent camps today that Mr. Préval had made this decision.

Because, if he truly wanted to support the local production, the best way of doing this would be to facilitate the displacement of the thousands of homeless people towards the provinces and to supply them directly from the local markets.

This decision would have given not only a certain dynamism to the economy of the provinces, but would have been the greatest measure ever taken in favor of the decentralization of the country.

But, unfortunately Mr. Préval has always opposed the program of depopulation of the capital and the decentralization of the country.

Today, Mr. Préval and his accomplices are writing the last page of the Haitian tragedy, in which the Haitian people will be the involuntary actors.

Their plan consists in creating tent camps at the foot of Morne à Cabrits and Ti-Tanyen where they intend to concentrate hundreds of thousands of displaced people who are presently in the temporary shelters of the capital.

Among these people, there are children, expectant mothers and tens of thousands of sick people.

In fact these areas are known to be infested by insects, scorpions and mosquitoes.

And taking into account the ambient heat and the rainy season, it is a medium that is quite favorable to the growth of bacteria.

Therefore, there is a strong probability that epidemics could be engendered and propagated quickly in these camps.

Furthermore, if the population that will inhabit these camps is not exterminated by diseases, it will be at the mercy of the fury of the winds and the rains that will come with the hurricane season.

Thus, the government of Mr. Préval, who will have presided over the construction of these camps, will be responsible for an act of GENOCIDE.

Each time you meet a member of the government of Mr. Préval, it leaves you with the impression of somebody who is mocking what occurred on last January 12 and even is a little scoffer with regards to the situation.

It is this kind of attitude, which explains this type of declaration from people in the entourage of President Préval: LTD, initials that translate into English as "Let Them Die".

From its perspective, the population is returning the favor, by calling the President by the coarsest words in its Creole language.

As such, it is not surprising, when we arrived in New York, to hear some young Haitian workers at the airport ask us why the country is still so shamefully living under the governance of such a president, followed by some coarse pejorative.

Thus, it appears that it will not take too much time before the President is caused to resign by the population, if he does not have the courage to resign on his own...

It would be damaging if the situation evolved to such an extreme, as one considers that the primary mission of the MINUSTHA would be interpreted as to provide protection to the most corrupt government in the history of the country and that it could in fact use its weapons against the population in order to maintain Mr. Préval in power.

We know that the assistance funds will not arrive too quickly in the country.

And it is clear that Mr. Préval and his team are waiting impatiently for the embezzlement season to start so that we end up with the first Haitian billionaires.

Therefore, the presence of Mr. Préval as President is a major obstacle to the reconstruction of the country.

And today, the international community must wonder if it is not aiding and abetting the Head of the Haitian Republic in an act of genocide against its own people.

We know that it must also be wondering: is it not preferable to have in place even an ineffective and corrupt government instead of a regime change, which could lead to an unstable country?

But, it is frankly a major error of judgment, which has always until now benefited Mr. Préval and his cohorts.

Because we know that Mr. Préval is not honest and that its cronies will not be afraid to use all of the means at their disposal to hold on to power, and corruption and assassinations are part of the arsenal preferred by these ladies and gentlemen.

However, we have arrived at a period of time when the people are fed up and no longer fear the consequences.

Soon, the international community will see what that means, if Mr. Préval seeks to remain in power indefinitely.

In our country, history has a tendency to repeat itself.

Indeed, even while deeply wounded, the Haitian people, that have suffered enough, will prove once again that his right to choose his own government will have to be respected.

It would be best for everyone that Mr. Préval chooses to resign.

Let this serve as a warning to the wise!

Paul Gustave Magloire
Former Minister of the Interior
President of MORN

Morn, April 17 2010, 9:10 AM

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