Former Jamaican prime minister PJ Patterson is optimistic that the newly put forth solutions to the problem in Haiti would be effective and provide that nation the best chance to go ahead.
“I think what they have proposed is logical, it is feasible only if the conditions on the ground allow for its implementation,” In an exclusive interview, Patterson revealed to the neighborhood newspaper.
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Ariel Henry, the prime minister of Haiti, announced his resignation after crisis talks in Kingston a little over two weeks ago. The transitional presidential council will oversee selecting an interim prime minister before a national election to select a new head of state.
“There is a very encouraging signal in that the parties mentioned in that agreement, save one, have already nominated someone to serve on the presidential council. Let us hope that the presidential council will be able to meet in a reasonable time because that is necessary to put into effect the resignation of the prime minister which will be finalized when there is a constituted authority in place,” Patterson made this claim just hours before the council released its initial formal statement, which promised to assist as soon as members are formally appointed, “put Haiti back on the path of democratic legitimacy, stability, and dignity”.
The heads of state of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) spearheaded the negotiations in Kingston, which also featured envoys from the United Nations, France, Canada, and other important nations. Patterson expressed his satisfaction that the leaders of the area are leading the charge in efforts to support Haiti by holding talks with both the international community and Haitians.
Ever since President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in 2021, Haiti has been shattered by extreme violence. When the nation’s gangs orchestrated a concerted assault in late February, they broke up a jail and freed hundreds of prisoners while demanding Henry’s resignation, which further intensified the problem.
Amidst the political turmoil and urban violence, there is a growing sense of desperation over food. The UN said this week that over five million people, or roughly half of Haiti’s population, face “crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity”.
More than 33,000 people have left the capital city of Port-au-Prince, where a state of emergency has been imposed until April, due to the rapidly deteriorating circumstances.
“Haiti is a member of Caricom, and Caricom has to demonstrate the will and the determination to help the most populous state in the region to achieve a level of democratic stability and economic development,” said Patterson, who retired from representation politics in March 2006 and is respected worldwide as an astute statesman.
“I brought Haiti into the Caribbean Community… and it was a calculated decision because Haiti deserves a very special place in the history of mankind [because] of its peculiar and unique significance in the struggle against slavery and the building of an independent State,” Patterson told the local news.
“For that sin, they have paid an enormous price, beginning with the refusal of the developed world to recognize them as an independent country unless they paid France reparations for the slaves that had been freed,” he said.
He asserted that the circumstances in Haiti are based on the “extortion that France imposed and the repeated invasions by the United States of America, both of which have prevented Haiti from developing a free and democratic society”.
While noting that Haiti lacks political and governmental institutions, which has made it challenging to reach an agreement on the best course of action, Patterson said that the international community must play a significant role in aiding that nation in resolving its current crisis.
“Like the World Bank, the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank), the IMF (International Monetary Fund), together with nations which have done the damage, USA, France and, by extension, the European Union, [and] Canada which has benefited from considerably from Haitian expertise, all have to come together,” remarked Patterson, noting that despite their claims, a number of nations have not yet fulfilled their commitments to assist Haiti following the 2010 magnitude 7.0 earthquake that ravaged the nation.
Patterson claims that in order to improve its effectiveness, the next elected Haitian government will need to consider amending the country’s constitution.
He noted that in addition to repairing the harm caused recently, the new government would also need to plan for the full deployment of the human and financial resources required for Haiti’s economic growth and development.
“That Government is also going to build some of the institutional capacity, particularly about security and it has to decide whether it is going to restore an army to be able to assist the police force in dealing with law and order throughout the country, or whether it is going to create a police force of the size, the capacity, with the training to be able to maintain law and order,” stated Patterson, who went on to say that, “It is in the interest of the entire hemisphere that Haiti is allowed to grow and develop and contribute to the welfare of the region.”
