• Considering the Haitian President’s spectacularly failed performance in the earthquake’s aftermath, donors may want to maintain close levels of involvement in the implementation of aid programs in order to ensure proper allocation of the resources they provide.
• Aristide – Préval: A genteel relationship minted in purgatory.
• Two core questions remain: What role did President René Préval play during the island’s reconstruction efforts, and will Haiti’s rehabilitation be entirely a function of the island’s NGOs, or of the government’s – which has never previously failed to drop the ball in major areas of responsibility.
The 7.0-magnitude earthquake that devastated entire sections of the Republic of Haiti on January 12th intensified an already unbearable burden on the small Caribbean country. Described by the Inter-American Development Bank, without hyperbole, as “the most destructive natural disaster in modern times,” the earthquake and its aftershocks have left approximately 230,000 Haitians dead, displaced more than 1.2 million people, and generated an estimated $14 billion in damages. Plagued by abject poverty and political instability for most of its history, Haiti remains perpetually ranked as the most destitute nation in the Western Hemisphere. Meanwhile, President René Préval continues to be engulfed by international criticism as well as much abuse at home for demonstrating breathtaking failure in leadership at a time when his country desperately required a firm hand. Immediately following the earthquake, Préval disappeared from the public arena, and instead of taking control, he chose to shy away from a decision-making role.
According to Amy Wilentz at the University of California at Irvine, “President René Préval of Haiti is odd…his reaction to the destruction of his country is to walk around with his shoulders down, like a beaten dog.” Similarly, Ludovic Comeau, a former chief economist at Haiti’s central bank, said “He just doesn’t have what it takes,” in response to the president’s languorous and demonstrably ineffectual reaction to his county’s calamity. Préval’s elemental competency as president has indeed been called into question, both among Haitians, as well as critics from all corners of the international community.
Plummeting Leadership Qualities
At a mass grave for earthquake victims, mourners railed against Préval, telling reporters that his pathetic behavior was “expected” and that the country needed “someone competent to take charge.” In a country as fragile as Haiti, Préval’s primary aim should have been to reassure and unite his people when they were suffering most. Instead, his invisibility has triggered anger and resentment, further exacerbating an already volatile political situation. From the onset of the crisis, COHA was told by Préval’s battalion of critics that he has turned out to be a totally inept leader for a nation undergoing the most severe emergency in its history. One can think of almost no country in the world that would have so pathetically handled its post-earthquake situation.
Préval and Aristide: An Ancient Relationship Gone Sour
René Préval spent the majority of his political career linked to former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Described by one Haitian as “a fiery populist demagogue who could command Haiti’s masses as firmly as Moses did the Red Sea,” Aristide electrified the country with his 1990 presidential campaign, and went on to win the election by an overwhelming majority. Haitians called the two men, who were the best of friends as well as political allies, “the Twins.” When Aristide was inaugurated in 1991 for his first term, Préval was his immediate choice to be prime minister. However, less than a year into Aristide’s second term, his Parliament – led by René Préval – usurped his authority in a no confidence vote. Aristide attempted to rule without parliamentary support, but eventually was ousted by a military coup and was forced into exile by a U.S., Canadian, French, and UN complot. Upon his election, Préval began to downplay his links to Aristide, eventually running for the presidency in 1996 on a completely new platform and under the banner of his own LESPWA party. After several decades of dictatorships and political unrest, the philosophical, soft-spoken, and indecisive professional agronomist appealed to a country that was looking for a level-headed politician to calm the country’s turbulent political atmosphere. Préval took office amid high expectations that he would end the country’s long and tormented history of violence and economic stagnation.
Préval as a Ruler
Préval eventually turned on Aristide in order to expedite his own political aspirations. He was elected for a second term in 2006 after two years of intense political strife that eventually required the presence of Brazilian-led international peacekeeping forces in Haiti. Claiming the vote count was being conducted in a fraudulent manner, Préval demanded that he immediately be declared the winner. After protests and riots had paralyzed Port-au-Prince, the Provisional Electoral Council appointed him president with 51.15% of the vote. Préval then proceeded to disqualify fifteen political parties, including Aristide’s still popular Lavalas party, from taking part in this year’s elections. Opposition leaders, including Aristide (who, even in exile, remained highly popular with poverty-stricken Haitians) have accused Préval of restructuring the Parliament in order to facilitate the constitutional changes necessary for him to run for a third term in November 2010.
However, prospects for Préval’s third term look anything but promising, who said in a radio interview after the earthquake: “I don’t do politics, okay?” Opposition parties are using Préval’s woeful and inadequate response to the earthquake as an opportunity to further stomp on his ailing administration. Evans Paul, a longtime opposition figure, condemned Préval when he declared, “During the greatest disaster Haiti has ever faced, our president has been incapable of pulling himself together, much less this deeply divided society. He has single-handedly shown the Haitian people that he cannot lead them.”
During Préval’s first term in office, he was credited with building dozens of public schools, putting thousands of people to work, and issuing titles to thousands of hectares of farmland. In his second term, Haiti experienced modest, but hopeful levels of economic growth. Unfortunately, Préval’s inaction since the earthquake has overshadowed the achievements of his previous incumbencies. Indeed, he seems to have sealed his political destiny forever. Judith Marceline, a Haitian woman who lost everything after the quake except for the clothes she was wearing, may have described it best: “I stood in line for hours to vote for Mr. Préval in 2006. Today, I wonder why I supported him.”
Recently, Rene Préval has been working breathlessly to prove to a hopelessly skeptical world that he is no longer standing on the sidelines in the aftermath of the disaster. Struggling to counter the perception by the international community that Haiti’s government is scarcely better than a Mickey Mouse game, he has vowed that “Haiti will live on after the quake.” The Haitian president came to Washington on March 10th with a game plan and a list of priorities for Haiti’s recovery effort. His request for continued help from the U.S. came two weeks before international donors would meet at the United Nations on March 31st to plot the country’s long-term reconstruction. Préval is hoping the U.S. will play a leading role at the conference and will drum up support among donors who have largely frozen funding to the government because of Haiti’s legendary history of corruption and squandered aid. Préval says he is working hard to meet the demands of the Haitian people and the international community in facilitating the estimated $11.5 billion reconstruction effort needed to rebuild the devastated country – although it is likely that many will remain skeptical of his claims.
As coverage of the earthquake fades from the front pages of newspapers, Haiti needs an effective leader now more than ever. The leadership vacuum that Haiti faces becomes more apparent every day as the country struggles to recover and rebuild its most basic institutions and infrastructure. Although Préval may be taking important steps behind the scenes, simply helping to manage the reconstruction effort is not enough. The country needs more than an administrator in these trying times – it needs a president. In this respect, President Préval has woefully let his country down.
http://otherstreams.blogspot.com/ – PART 01
Will We Be Awarded As The Most Innovative Coup Style Creators?
After the “Kidnapping Coup” would we invent the brand new breakthrough “Quake Coup”?
That is what seems as Haiti & “Friends” begin to talk and think in elections and maybe a new constitution and moreover… why not a new Prime Minister and, to have it all done, a whole new entire Government?
All that just after losing some 2% of its brave people, having more some 5% unabridged and in eminent peril, just after losing far more than 50% of its yet scarce wealth and resources and patrimony, and just before the pouring rains season, followed by the floods season, and finally by the hurricanes season.
It is really a great idea!!! It would be ridiculous if it was not deeply and criminally serious.
It remembers me the joke in which the husband, as coming home earlier and finding his wife in some “not-so-catholic-positions” with his best friend on the sofa, promptly takes a tough decision: he sells the sofa!
It is not time to think in legislative elections, constitutional changes and so on.
H. E. Mr. Préval and (possibly) H. E. Mr. Bellerive mandates go until Feb 2011.
By other hand, the planned legislative elections should wait as the Country now is in full State of Emergency, War and worst.
There is only one focus to pursue: REBIRTH.
And rethink, together, to rebuild better as both leaders have been stressing.
Any other issue now is waste of time, effort or – the worst – underground hidden agendas.
And maybe we got to the point.
Much of the people talking about elections now are well intentioned.
But those that pushed the issues were triggered by the ‘inconvenient’ behaviors of His Excellences the Democratic Leaders of Haiti.
‘Inconvenient’ behaviors as expressed in the ambitious Haiti Government Reconstruction Plan or in H. E. Mr. Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive words:
“The key question for us is to know what is happening on our territory… What matters to government is that we know who is in the country, what you are bringing, and that you coordinate with the Haitian state… Coordination means better information”
(CONTINUES…)
http://otherstreams.blogspot.com/ – PART 02
On the opposite hand of what the Big Media is saying, I think they are counter proofing one of the most established laws of science: energy propagates in vacuum!
That is because, in my humble opinion, they are shining.
And they are pulling their light from absolute nothing.
Or better, they are pulling their light from the Ayisians’ unbeatable Resilience.
The Ayisians’ Pride that always triggered the outsiders’ love or prejudice.
Pride & Prejudice. If Jane Austen did not come first this would be the title of a book subtitled Haiti.
It would be reasonable to say that both authorities could be more present walking around the country.
But it is also reasonable to say that there is an unmanageable helpers crowd of outsiders inside the Country and, as paradigmatically that it seems, the only way to manage them is from outside.
Otherwise, is from outside that the solutions and – as important as – the avoidance of possible emergent no-return problems can be achieved.
And, finally, not even the missing third statesman, the former priest one, got the gift of the omnipresence.
By other hand, with no Palace, with no home, with almost no staff, I could hear Mr. Préval radio message to the population by radio (even probably "with no radio to be listened") less than 15 hours after the quake, after what with his shy and smooth manner he begun to, yes, take action from meetings under the trees by the streets yet before the "New Palace" was set at the small remaining Police Station.
Instead of what have bee said about the Excellences, it is – for me – really impressive how they are behaving – and playing the hurting but necessary games – with the highest stature statesmen style having to carry a hat on one hand but managing to keep on the other the torch of Liberty and Dignity.
How they are intelligently striving to trail the tortuous roads of multilateralism that leads to Independence.
And how they are envisioning the need for the foundation of a whole renewed Nation, with the cleansing of the most obscure, ‘untouchable’ and hidden historical problems as the internal elites segregationists, the peasants exclusionism and the external dominance and ruling, amongst others.
But with no bloody revolutions: just the ones that Earth herself sadly arranged.
I can see it in their eyes, in what they say, and mainly in what they do not say.
Both in the ‘supershy’ Statesman and in the ‘smileless’ Statesman silences.
And if I can see it, the vultures also do as so.
And both me and the vultures understand that the third, the ‘holly’ statesman is missing, banned, in Pretoria, South Africa, and will be claimed to come in by the advent of elections.
And there will be the chaos.
And there will be more reasons to show how Haiti is ‘acephalous’, and violent, and how “they need our generous leadership”.
But for those that say that Haiti needs some external governance I will repeat one thousand times if needed: it is what have been done since 1915 and before, and this – not the earthquake – is what lead Haiti to the situation she is living right now.
And for those that say that Haiti’s Government is corrupt I will repeat one thousand times if needed: the external ruled past marionettes dictators have a long corruption roll.
But about the last democratic elected Governments of Haiti, do me a favor, give them a chance of showing some corruption, let them manage some money!
Because they cannot be corrupt without money.
And almost all the money that comes in Haiti comes from outside to outsiders private or philanthropic institutions.
Or from the Haitian Diaspora to their own families.
For those that think that Haiti is a failed state and has no chance I will just ask to believe.
Haiti changed the world once.
She will be capable of changing herself now.
Haiti is a really magic, paradigmatic and surprisingly Country.
She will surprise us.
And I hope that we, the World, will also surprise Haiti for good as so.
I envision the day when that small Police Station close to the Toussaint Louverture Airport will become one of the smallest greatest monuments of the World.
By its meaning as a symbol that the Human Kind can resurrect through the beliefs of Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, and that L’Union Fait La Force as The Ebony Phoenix showed us once and will show twice.
It is maybe useful also to remember that we have shared responsibilities as the Haitian constitution states a french-like mid-parliamentary approach, with the internal Government running issues being a moreover attribution of the Mr. Prime Minister.
Just remembering but recognizing that this kind of formality is not exactly the case given the situation.
Well..finally the truth is out..Preval really needs to go..ASAP!
It is not so difficult to sum up what needs to be done in Haiti. Missing is the ability to set priorities and to implement them. History has proven that Haitian governments are not capable in doing this. NGOs, abundantIy present in the country, and foreign donors did not succeed either. And there is no silver bullet.
I am sure the man in the street would agree with me, including the observation that since the fall of the Duvallier regime life in Haiti only detoriorated. Which does not imply that the actual situation would have been prevented by leaving the dictator in place. Still, I dare say, Democracy has had a negative influence on welfare.
Sometimes one could see that elsewhere too. Look at Zimbabwe. I think the culprit is the education and attitudes of the political and cultural elites.
It will turn out very difficult to change that in Haiti. The only period of significant advancement in basic structures took place during the US occupation before WW 2.
It is no use to blame "imperialism" like you do. High time to conclude that Haiti needs to become a UN protectorate for at least 8 years.
Of course, with due respect for local inputs at operational level. Real sovereignity is safeguarded in that manner, while your politians stay in the waiting room.
Rectification
It is not so difficult to sum up what needs to be done in Haiti. Missing is the ability to set priorities and to implement them. History has proven that Haitian governments are not capable in doing this. NGOs, abundantIy present in the country, and foreign donors did not succeed either. And there is no silver bullet.
I am sure the man in the street would agree with me, including the observation that since the fall of the Duvallier regime life in Haiti only detoriorated. Which does not imply that the actual situation would have been prevented by leaving the dictator in place. Still, I dare say, Democracy has had a negative influence on welfare.
Sometimes one could see that elsewhere too. Look at Zimbabwe. I think the culprit is the education and attitudes of the political and cultural elites.
It will turn out very difficult to change that in Haiti. The only period of significant advancement in basic structures took place during the US occupation before WW 2.
It is no use to blame "imperialism". High time to conclude that Haiti needs to become a UN protectorate for at least 8 years.
Of course, with due respect for local inputs at operational level. Real sovereignity is safeguarded in that manner, while politians stay in the waiting room.
Dear COHA,
I just finished reading the article Haiti's Yawning Leadership Vacuum by Ritika Singh. I am quite certain that the article will engender harsh criticism for its many inaccuracies not to mention its very simplistic analysis of Préval. As a devoted reader of COHA's usually-well researched reports, I suggest you move to correct these mistakes as quickly as possible. Some of the more glaring ones include:
- The assertion that the U.S., France, Canada and the UN were involved in the 1991 coup. The author seems to be confusing 1991 with 2004. The U.S. arguably supported the military coup of 1991, but none of the other actors are typically cited as being supporters or enablers of the first coup against Aristide. In fact, Aristide received a warm reception when he visited Canada after the coup, which contrasts with Canada's lamentable role in supporting the coup of 2004.
- Préval did not form the LESPWA coalition until 2006, not 1996! During his first presidency, he was still part of FL. This is basic Haitian political history.
- Préval's victory in 2006 was not granted by the CEP merely in response to large-scale mobilizations. Haitians mobilized because there was evidence of fraud and other irregularities. That should have been mentioned.
A more nuanced analysis of Préval's leadership would have called attention to the fact that he has always been pitted between two irreconcilable constituencies: the international donor community (aligned with the elite) and his social base, comprised mainly of the unemployed, workers, and peasants. Each has articulated a very different conception of economic development and democracy that have engendered considerable tensions and conflict. Surly, any analysis of Préval's leadership must take this into consideration. There is no question that he is a weak leader, but he is also one who has been demoralized and exhausted by internecine local political rivalries, the tragic history of Lavalas and the extreme international pressures to conform to a particular development model. This is obvious if you look at the actual political events and developments that have characterized both his presidencies. This does not excuse his incompetence, but clearly there is a context that must be considered.