Port-au-Prince, Monday, June 18, 2012: The Office of Communication of the Presidency has the pleasure of inviting the broadcast media, print and TV to cover, this Tuesday, June 19, 2012 to 9: 30 am, at the National Palace important Announcement from the President of the Republic, HE Mr. Michel Joseph Martelly, on amendments to the Constitution of 1987.
The Communication Office of the President relies on the presence of journalists accredited at the National Palace in this important meeting.
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Many important changes
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Haiti constitutional amendments finally take effect
Haiti's President Michel Joseph Martelly reacts to a comment during the inauguration ceremony of newly appointed Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe at the National Palace in Port-au-Prince May 16, 2012. REUTERS/Swoan Parker
By Joseph Guyler Delva
PORT-AU-PRINCE | Tue Jun 19, 2012 10:11pm EDT
(Reuters) - Haitian President Michel Joseph Martelly published an amended version of the constitution on Tuesday that created new institutions and granted voting rights to Haitians with dual citizenship.
The changes were first approved shortly before Martelly took office in May 2011 but were withdrawn after members of Parliament said the version sent to the president for publication contained material errors.
Haiti reverted to its original 1987 constitution until the corrected version was published.
During a ceremony at the presidential palace, Martelly said the amendments would create a constitutional court to resolve conflicts between Parliament and the executive branch of government and establish a new permanent electoral council to oversee elections. They also will require that at least 30 percent of government jobs be held by women.
The amendments would allow Haitians who hold one or several foreign passports to vote and to be eligible for appointment to Cabinet posts and other administrative and political positions that could previously only be filled by Haitians who had never become citizens of another country.
"The issue of the dual citizenship that has created conflicts between Haitians living in the diaspora and those living here will be solved once and for all," Martelly said. "There is no room for division now, all Haitians are Haitians."
However Haitians who hold foreign passports still would not be eligible for four key positions - president, prime minister, senator or member of the lower house of Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies.
Some two million Haitians live abroad, while about 9.8 million live in their Caribbean homeland. Those abroad send home up to $2 billion in remittances annually to support their relatives, contributing about 20 percent of Haiti's GDP. But many have complained that they could not participate in the political life of their native country.
The permanent electoral council will be set up so elections may be organized better and more regularly, Martelly said.
"We are tired with provisional electoral councils that used corrupt practices to organize flawed elections," he said.
The amendments create a high council that will assume administrative management of the judicial system, which so far has been an executive branch responsibility through the Department of Justice.
"Today the judicial power will really become independent," Martelly said.
He acknowledged there had been controversy over whether to publish the corrected amendments or scrap them and start over. He said the leaders of all three branches of government - the executive, parliament and judicial - had agreed to their publication, which he called a great step forward in the democratization of Haiti.
Once again, nothing seem to change here in Haitixchange. However, I was expecting someone to have the full transcript of the articles that has been changed and then read everyone reactions toward each change. Now to those who made the reference Rwanda, well I do not believe that they changed things by continued to hate one another or look for ways to have a verbal war against one another. They learned their lesson as to where hatred took them or will take them if they don't change their attitude toward one another which is a lesson that we as Haitian as not yet learned.
Anyway, I am glad that the constitution amendment has finally published and it is about time that we get every Haitian Involve in the political process of our home. I have been advocating this here in Haitixchange for years and I am glad to see that our country taking a step in the right direction. I would love to know Tibob de Nazareth reaction because him and I went way back on this issue.
And a huge thanks to Ban Dwa organization who were has advocated and actually went to Haiti to fight for us to obtain this right. Now just like many other country's who has taken this step and enjoying the fruit of it, I hope that we Haitian leaving abroad will take full advantage of this and look for strategy to change our country for the better. Until then, may God continue to bless our beloved Haiti.
