Haiti's Rut In the Road

Posted: Thursday, March 1, 2012 1:53 pm

Haiti's Rut In the Road

By Tony Best

Haiti’s political and reconstruction roller coaster ride has run into a major stumbling block: the abrupt resignation of the country’s Prime Minister, Dr. Garry Conille, after only four months on the job.
Conille, who came to office after two other nominees for the powerful position in Port-au-Prince, were virtually rejected by the parliament, quit less than a week ago because of fundamental policy disagreements with President Michel Martelly.
And the reaction in the Haitian Diaspora in the United States was swift: what a mess.
 “We are muddling through from crisis to crisis,” said Robert Fatton of the University of Virginia. “The immediate future is likely to be a very turbulent and a major crisis may be in the making.”
In New York, Ricot Dupuy, manager of Radio Soleil, the leading Creole radio station in the City, said “we are all concerned about what’s happening in Haiti and what led to the Prime Minister’s resignation after being in office for such a short period of time. We are all interested in seeing that the constitution is respected and that country moves forward.  That’s central to what took place last week and what can retard progress.”
For his part, Dr. Conille, at one time an aide to former U.S. President Bill Clinton, said that his decision to quit was based on two things: an impasse with the president and a loss of the confidence of his ministerial cabinet colleagues.
“We simply reached an impasse,” was the way he described the difficulties with Martelly.
According to members of the diplomatic community in Haiti as well as Haitians in New York, Florida and elsewhere across the United States, the source of the friction could be traced to several factors. The first of which was that Conille wasn’t a member of Martelly’s inner circle and was chosen after the legislature had requested two previous nominees for the job.
“He simply wasn’t a Martelly person,” asserted Dupuy, a leading commentator on Haitian affairs in the northeastern region of the U.S. “After assuming his duties Conille sought to function in accordance with the constitution and therefore took positions that weren’t in line with the President’s thinking. Many close to the President didn’t care for his approach.”
An area of conflict was the question of Martelly’s citizenship. The Haitian constitution forbids anyone who is a national of a foreign country from being president, Prime Minister or a cabinet minister. Almost from the get-go, there were suspicions that Martelly was a naturalized American citizen and when a parliamentary group began looking into the issue and  requested the passports and related documents from senior government official, Martell declined to comply on the grounds that as head of the executive he didn’t have to hand over anything. Conille took a different view and that in turn irritated the President and his allies.
Next was the controversy over the way as much as $ 600 million to $800 million in no-bid contracts for Haiti’s reconstruction were signed by the previous government. Conille supported the creation of an audit commission to look into the matter but Martelly opposed it. With rumors circulating that that some of money found its way into Martell’s presidential campaign, Conille felt that in the interest of transparency, an audit was the best solution.
Then, there was the proposal to amend the constitution so that in case of the President’s disability to carry out his or her duties, the Prime Minister would fill the job for the remaining part of the presidential term raised suspicions within the Martelly camp that Conille was positioning himself to take over the job.
“The old constitution provided for the head of the judiciary to fill any presidential vacancy and call an election in about three months but under the amended constitution the Prime Minister would remain in office until the term ended,” Dupuy told the Carib News. “That sent a red flag to the president’s supporters.”
The end came last week when the Prime Minister called a cabinet meeting to clarify his positions on the contentious issues and no ministers turned up. It’s widely believed that Martelly urged them not to attend.
It was then, by his own admission that Conille decided to jump ship, saying he left on his own and wasn't pushed.
“I’ve always been committed to being part of the solution and not part of the problem,” said Conille who will remain in office until a successor is chosen and approved by the parliament. “I hope that the President will work with parliament to quickly ensure we have a functioning government and continue to institute necessary reforms.”
His departure may have a profound effect on Haiti’s reconstruction efforts.
“The political deadlock and institutional paralysis between the government and the president does not reflect the commitments they have undertaken vis-à-vis the Haitian people and are not likely to create the necessary conditions for recovery of the economy and the consolidation of democracy,” warned Mariano Fernandez, special representative of UN Secretary-General and head of the UN mission in Haiti.
The UN representative wasn’t alone.
“The absence of a prime minister causes further insatiability at a time when the Haitian people face serious hardships in rebuilding their livelihoods and their country,” said John Baird, Canada’s Foreign Minister who joined in an international show of support for Conille, describing him as a “capable leader, a friend of Canada and a man who inspired a great deal of hope.”
For his part, President Martelly has promised to move swiftly to fill the abyss left by Conille’s departure.
“I regret that at this moment when the country is taking off” that the Prime Minister quit his position,” said Martelly. Who urged both the country and the international community “to stay calm” as he looked for a replacement.