Is humanitarian assistance being used to influence Haiti's elections?

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Is humanitarian assistance being used to influence Haiti's elections?

This week Americans saw a full court press positioning Wyclef Jean as the presidential candidate for Haiti's upcoming elections.

Newspapers, cable news, and local TV channels all ran favorable stories speculating about whether or not Wyclef would run. This type of media exposure does not come cheap - and does not come without the support of influential connections.

It also raises really important questions about the US role in Haiti's elections.

Many Haitians are beginning to ask questions about why there is such a focus on Wyclef and why such a focus on forcing elections in November?

Is the Clinton machine trying buy a president that will bow down to Boss America?

Are they withholding aid until their chosen president is elected?

Does Wyclef think the American people will elect him?

Does Clinton think Haiti is just a joke?

Let's take a look at each of these questions with the information that we have right now.

First, it is clear that Presidents Aristide and Preval have irritated the international community with their refusal to implement needed reforms and general incompetency - and rightly so for the most part. Many insiders have said that the Clinton team is fed up with Preval and his stonewalling and they are casting around for a candidate they can get into the presidency who will play ball. The thinking is that they can wait to really get down to the business of rebuilding Haiti until November when they get someone friendly in office.

Wyclef is an attractive option - notwithstanding his tax issues, mismanagement of aid funds, and complete lack of experience - because he's been a long time supporter of Clinton participating in the Clinton Global Initiative annually.

Given his total lack of experience and willingness to play ball, he is ideal.

Second, while Clinton has not publicly commented on Wyclef's candidacy, his fingerprints are all over the media blitz.

It is rumored that Clinton is giving PR powerhouse Burson Marstellar a lucrative contract to do the public relations for the Haiti Interim Reconstruction Commission (HIRC).

It is an interesting coincidence that the contract is said to be $700,000, or the exact amount that Hilary Clinton's campaign owes Burson.

The Burson team is populated with former Clinton officials.

Furthermore, some of the big management consulting companies are rumored to be vetting potential candidates.

We should expect to see a smear campaign against prominent Haitians that could be viable candidates but who do not fit into the Clinton machine.

Third, it is astounding that the most powerful political figure in the world, Clinton, has only been able to scare up 10% of the pledged aid money.

It is astounding that given his personal commitment to Haiti that there is still now overarching organization to the provision of aid in country.

Aid is ad hoc and insufficient, particularly given the significant dollar amount of aid funds.

By all accounts, the Haitian recovery is a disaster.

Many Haitians have started to question whether aid is merely a tool to influence Haiti's elections.

They expect to see forced elections in November that will be a disaster resulting in a candidate they did not elect, but who will magically be able to get the aid funds released and put to work making him or her Haiti's savior.

This is a cynical view to be sure, but it is just so unfathomable that Clinton the powerful Haiti Czar cannot do better.

Finally, if Wyclef is the chosen candidate it appears to Haitians that the outside world thinks they are just a joke. What little experience Wyclef can point to is abysmal.

On the personal front, he has gone into foreclosure on his Miami mansion.

It was said that he also stiffed the builders for $2 million.

He owes the state of New Jersey about $180,000 in back taxes.

His Yele Haiti Foundation has been mired in nothing but controversy since it was thrust into the spotlight after the earthquake.

He was accused of not paying taxes on his foundation since 2000. Red flags were raised when he filed three years of taxes on the same day. In 2007, the Foundation spending exceeded revenues, which were a mere $79,000 - compared to the millions he's raking in today.

Reviews of his tax returns showed that it was closely linked to bolstering his business.

Three of the Board members of the Foundation are involved in his personal music and business endeavors.

He has been accused of using aid funds to: stage a concert in Monte Carlo (for $160,000), set up his mistress in a NY apartment, acquire the for-profit Telemax TV station, rented an office in NY to build a music studio, to name just a few. Furthermore, he is not even qualified to run under Haiti's constitution because he has US citizenship.

Is our constitution unimportant?

For Haitians, to take such a person seriously as a candidate, means that whoever is behind him does not take Haiti seriously as a country.

It would be like electing some self-promoting rapper to the US presidency.

Haiti is at a crossroads here and needs someone who really knows the country - not some poverty pimp who has used Haiti's dire straits to profit his personal goals.

They also believe that American politicians are not above influencing elections globally because they are not above influencing them in their own country (see the case of Clinton pushing Senate candidate Joe Sestak to drop his candidacy for an appointment to a US Presidential commission).

Everyone appreciates that Wyclef has always talked so positively about Haiti.

He wears the Haitian flag in his concerts as a symbol of his pride.

That is certainly commendable.

But as a leader for a country that is so desperate, he is not at all qualified and has a questionable track record.

Haiti deserves better - and they deserve to make their own choice - not have a candidate foisted on them.

Gina Merenthie, July 30 2010, 10:50 AM

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