Haiti: President Martelly Makes Four Promises towards Political Stability
Thursday, 22 December 2011 09:56
by Samuel Maxime
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (defend.ht) – The President of the Republic, Michel Martelly, made four groundbreaking concessions on Wednesday aimed at stabilizing the political structure of Haiti. The promises were made during a meeting which convened members of all three branches of government and a visiting delegation from the Club of Madrid.
It could be argued that President Martelly was less than enthusiastic when announcing the long-awaited completion of four (4) government processes but none-the-less, by the sporadic rounds of applause by the different sectors convened at the meeting, some change seems to be in the air.
Martelly 12.21.2011 - MetroNews
Publishing the Constitutional Amendments
President Michel Martelly firstly promised to publish the Constitutional amendments into the executive journal, Le Moniteur. "I propose, within a period to be determined in close consultation with the Parliament, to advance the long-awaited amendment to the Constitution by political actors, the Diaspora and the Haitian people," Martelly said.
The Haitian Constitution, now in its 201st day in, effectively, a crisis could be finalized before the end of the year. This was echoed by the Minister of the Interior, Local Authorities and National Defense, Thierry Mayard-Paul who said that the amendments would be published before December 31st and at the latest, the beginning of the new year.
Completion of the Supreme Court
The president’s second promise was to work with the President of the Senate, Rodolphe Joazile (Nord-Est/Alternative) "to finalize the procedures to allow completion of the number of judges to the Supreme Court,” he said.
The Haitian justice system has been weak for far long before President Michel Martelly took office due to the fact that previous administration kept the court ‘dysfunctional’ by not appointing judges as needed. The establishment of this court is the most critical move towards making justice a reality in Haiti.
Establishment of the Permanent Electoral Council
Past elections in Haiti have always been times of contention, violence and stress with results marred by fraud and inconsistencies. This has been partly due to the fact Haiti has had a ‘Provisional’ Electoral Council, one with all 9 of its members chosen by the president.
President Michel Martelly said "soon I will convene in an inclusive selection process, all conditions necessary to form and make functional the Permanent Electoral Council representing the Haitian people for granted constitutional and democratic elections.”
With the Permanent Electoral Council each branch of government chooses three (3) of the council members that are aimed to represent as many of the ten departments as possible.
Finalize Plans for Upcoming Elections
With the Permanent Electoral Council in place, the president said he will see that elections, that were due to be held in November 2011 are held as soon as possible. 10 of 30 Senators of the Republic will see their terms end in May 2012, as well, mayors and local authorities are to be elected during the cycle. President Michel Martelly promised to not see these institutions become ‘dysfunctional.’
"I share of course the concerns expressed by Mr. Serge Gilles, on the serious, the transparency of the electoral institution. I will ensure compliance with the Constitution," Martelly said. "I will do everything in my power and my powers to stand in the best time of the elections to renew one third of the Senate and local authorities." "There is no doubt. Such measures will contribute strongly to the deepening of democracy, freedoms and the rule of law, " he concluded.
Haiti: President Martelly Denies Receiving Constitution, Establishes Own Commission
Friday, 30 December 2011 20:32
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (defend.ht) - President Michel Martelly on Friday stated contrarily to what was said by the presidents of the legislature, that he did not receive the signed Constitution of Haiti. Martelly says he has a team not consisting of lawmakers working on the matter.
Haiti is in its 208th day without a constitution in its official record Le Moniteur.
The Constitution of Haiti 1987 was amended in a May 9th session of the 49th Legislature that made quorum. President Michel Martelly in the third week of his presidency declared the Constitution of Haiti erroneous based on recorded video from the National Television of Haiti.
On Monday, the President and Vice-President of the Parliament said a corrected Constitution based on the recorded video and bearing the signatures of both presidents and secretaries of the National Assembly were sent to the National Palace for publication.
On Friday, President Michel Martelly denied having received any document signed by the lawmakers.
President Martelly announced his own team working on the matter.
President Michel Martelly
12.30.11 | Radio Kiskeya
"For the amendments we have another team that we are setting up, because I have received mixed signals for example Mr. Bernard Gousse who is right now in Canada who sent an important message to me 'don't proceed, don't proceed, don't proceed'..."
"... and we have the professor Georges Michel that's telling us 'don't proceed, don't proceed, don't proceed'."
"... and we have other people that are counseling us to advance."
"For us we don't want to proceed with our heads down we want to see where we are going. It is a country that we are managing not follies we are doing."
Dr. George Michel who was on the commission that established the Constitution of Haiti in 1987 and is now serving on the commission to reinstate the Haitian army on not an elected representative of the legislature.
Dr. Michel is opposed to the publication of the correct Constitution because of the changes made to ARTICLE 149.
Martelly says he also received a phone call from former Minister of Justice (2004-2006) and Prime Minister-designate Bernard Gousse, currently in Canada, who told him to not publish the corrected Constitution. Gousse is also not an elected member of the legislature.
[ Edited: 30 December 2011 08:55 PM by en devant ]
Please en devant, take this advice: Don't count your chicken babies before they hatch! You put in the thread title that you got it, you did it but when I read the article it only says that Martelly made promises and not that he actually did something. Promises do not count as good actions. Do not count on promises before they are made reality.
Constitutional changes to become law in Haiti a year after vote
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More than a year after they were first voted, constitutional reforms in Haiti will finally become law, President Michel Martelly said Tuesday.
By Jacqueline Charles
Constitutional changes that were voted more than a year ago by Haitian lawmakers will finally be made legal, Haitian President Michel Martelly said Tuesday.
Martelly announced he will publish the amendments to Haiti’s 1987 constitution that underwent reform before he took office May 14, 2011, but were later annulled by him after some lawmakers said what was ultimately published was not what they voted.
“Today is an important day,” Martelly said during a news conference on the grounds of the presidential palace. “The three branches of power will advance together.”
Just as the president had stopped it.......he changed his mind and allowed the amended constitution to be published but unfortunately Haitians now realize the delay was carefully planned to make it difficult for the senate to name their 3 members to the Permanent Electoral Council........the senate is now working with only 2/3 of its members only 20 out of 30......and as planned more than 10 of the 20 are against a Permanent Electoral Council.....
While Haiti took a step forward.......we discovered that president Martelly had screwed the process by stratigically waited for a third of the senate to leave.
The enators have claimed they are unable to get a majority out of the 20........elections more than 14 months overdue. No end in sight.
Please en devant, take this advice: Don't count your chicken babies before they hatch! You put in the thread title that you got it, you did it but when I read the article it only says that Martelly made promises and not that he actually did something. Promises do not count as good actions. Do not count on promises before they are made reality.
Exactly!
And how many "constitutions" have we had in the last 35 years?
