For months now, the anti-Moïse discourse, both in the country and in the diaspora, is similar. He must be expelled from the National Palace. The mood of the people borders on the unthinkable, some going as far as saying they’ll “go get him in the Palace,” if he were to still be there on February 7.
The speeches, statements and media appearances of certain government ministers and other courtiers of the Head of State, demanding that the end of his constitutional mandate be February 7, 2022, are causing more anger among the people
New York, mercredi 20 janvier 2021 ((rezonodwes.com))–For more than three months, the people have been expressing their anger loudly against the multiple excesses of the PHTK, regime led by the Moïse-Jouthe team. Just three weeks before the end of Jovenel Moïse’s constitutional term, the citizens of all categories have announced their intention to put an end to him, declaring their readiness to resort even to violence to free the country if the Head of State persists on holding to power beyond the February 7 expiration of his constitutional mandate. It is time to sound the alarm even louder. In that light, the entire nation should rally around the latest message from a group of protestant pastors representing several organizations of that religious sector.
Although Mr. Moïse himself does not directly address the issue of his constitutional mandate ending February 7, 2021, as widely recognized, he contines, however, to take certain initiatives proving that he has his sight set on the same date, but the following year. Meanwhile, via his apologists, it is claimed that February 7, 2022 is the date for clearing out of the President’s official residence.
Understandably, this strategy has inflamed the ire of the citizens, who are mobilized against him. The demonstration last Friday, January 15 throughout the country and in Haitian communities abroad, should serve as a warning to the ruling team, above all Jovenel Moïse himself, who pretend not to grasp the seriousness of the situation. Time is really running out for those men and women, basking in power, to stop their head-in-the-sand posture.
Certainly, since the citizen mobilization of 2019, demanding the “immediate and unconditional resignation” of Jovenel Moïse, much water has flowed under the bridge—in a negative way. But as the months passed, the anti-Moïse opposition has hardened and the sec-tors turning against him have multi-plied exponentially. The intensity of their actions parallels popular discontent, as one sector after another stands up to denounce the crimes, abuses of power, violations of the laws and the constitution of the country, on top of the massacres carried out in the poverty-stricken neighborhoods, both in the capital and in other cities. They de nounce the murders of peaceful citizens and protest the government’s alliance with kidnappers-for-ransom, to whom carte blanche has been given to operate. Meanwhile, armed gangs allied to the authorities cause mourning among the families. In the process a sociopolitical vacuum is being created, affecting the existence of the nation itself.
Concerned citizens watch helplessly as the Head of State falls increasingly into a logic that leads to a one-way trip toward organized crime. He surprises all the time as he pushes further into a new wave of abuses. For sure, it started early on after President Moïse’s swearing in. Immediately, he began drifting into corruption. Since then, there is no denying that, surrounded by like-minded collaborators, he has perfected his criminal and kleptomaniacal skills, giving free rein to his reflexes for embezzlement.
Experts in all sorts of vices, Mr. Moïse and his political allies, understandably, could not break from the infernal cycle of violence, theft of public funds, assassinations, kidnappings-for-ransom, and a series of massacres. In the same vein, it is also understandable why healthy layers of the society have fled the Haitian president like the plague. There is no denying that during the first mobilization of the citizens in 2019, the Head of State could still count on a few hundred hardened collaborators. Less than two years later, however, it’s another story, he is almost alone. Thus, wanting to cling to power at all cost, even for one month, borders on madness.
For months now, the anti-Moïse discourse, both in the country and in the diaspora, is similar. He must be expelled from the National Palace. The mood of the people borders on the unthinkable, some going as far as saying they’ll “go get him in the Palace,” if he were to still be there on February 7. Indeed, the anti-Jovenel Moïse stance has been radicalized, to the point that some die hard enthusiasts even recommend, that “The fate of Vilbrun Guillaume Sam be inflict ed on him”, if he were to be in the Palace on that date.
(For those who don’t know Haitian history, President Sam had sought refuge in the French diplomatic mission in Port-au-Prince after he had ordered the execution of some political prisoners. An enraged population went there, threw him out from a window to a mob that chopped him to pieces, July 28, 1915. In the ensuing chaos, the American Marines landed and the 34-year U.S. occupation of Haiti ensued.)
To put it plainly, the speeches, statements and media appearances of certain government ministers and other courtiers of the Head of State, demanding that the end of his constitutional mandate be February 7, 2022, are causing more anger among the people. One would think that they would attempt instead to appease the citizens whose patience already has run out. In that light, it would be good to heed the latest advice from a group of protestant pas-tors.
The Conference of Haitian Pastors (COPAH), the National Spiritual Council of Churches (CONASPE), the Federation of Haitian Pastors (FEPAH), and the Protestant Federation of Haiti (FPH), issued a joint statement, following a meeting of reflection, held last January 12 in Tabarre, concerning the general situation of the country on the eve of February 7, 2021. They demand respect for the constitution, “particularly the provisions of articles 134-1 and 134-2. They compare the current situation of the country “to a boiling pot, ready to explode, wrath swelling up and a terrible chaos threatening.”
The document goes on to say: “We are literally sitting on a powder keg, a dangerous situation exacerbated by the stubbornness of Mr. Jovenel Moïse to hold onto power after February 7, 2021, the constitutional date for his man date to end.”
Justifying their position, the four organizations say they note “… a dictatorship is being set up in the country. To persist in staying beyond his constitutional mandate is to embark on a dangerous adventure, because it is a flagrant violation of the Constitution.”
These Protestant entities base their conclusions regarding Jovenel Moïse’s setting up a dictatorship on the following: “The creation of an illegitimate and contested CEP [Provisional Electoral Council]; the endorsement of action by armed gangs in popular neighborhoods; the impunity enjoyed by criminals; the blocking of the Petro Cari be dossier, and the publication of a series of libertine and menacing de-crees.”
These Protestant organizations consider their motives justified in asking international institutions, “especially the OAS and the UN, to cease immediately their meddling in Haiti’s internal affairs by supporting a president who is openly in rebellion against the laws and the Constitution of the country.”
They solemnly invite the country’s active forces (religious, business, trade union, etc.) to take an unequivocal stand in favor of a peaceful transition so “to spare the country and the citizens the suffering and the torments of unbridled violence.” As the date of February 7 fast approaches, Jovenel Moïse should be fully aware that he cannot impose on his family the uncertain fate he seems to be begging. For, considering it all, the date to evacuate may be already too late!
Board of Editorial of Haiti-ObservateurJournal 20- 27 janvier 2021.qxp_HO 1/20/21
