Government

During a visit to Miami to participate at the National Alliance for the Advancement of Haitian Professionals, Haitian Prime minister Evans Paul is in support of an independent verification of the vote count regarding the October 25 first round of presidential elections in Haiti.

At the conference that took place at Florida International University in North Miami, the Prime Minister seems to understand the magnitude of the current crisis and acknowledged that something must be done to keep things from getting worst. He said that he is open to the request by a group of presidential candidates and local observers for an independent verification of the vote count; however, he doubts this will be enough to solve the problem. According to Evans Paul, "The question is who will make up this commission because the trust crisis in Haiti doesn't exclude anyone".

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President Martelly Government Administrators Sign Agreement to Give Themselves Hefty Retirement Benefits Package

President Martelly in a move some consider illegal has granted a generous severance package to his outgoing government ministers and secretaries of state. He did not leave himself out of the bargain. This is seen as an illegal action, because he has violated the terms of the presidential decree he signed, which stipulated he not use his presidential powers by decree to order any policy unrelated to elections.

Ordinarily an act of this magnitude must be approved by Parliament. Because Parliament was disbanded due to a stubborn refusal by six opposition senators to set a date for national and municipal elections by January 12th 2015, Martelly has extended his presidential powers to award well-paid benefits to his government administrators.

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The Government of Martelly-Paul is not ready to deal with a protest over new taxes they want to introduce at this time, at least not this month which can come with it own set of problem with the election results just around the corner. Communication Minister Mario Dupuy just announced that the decision of the government to increase fees such as passport, licenses, etc..will be delayed until December, 2015.

The government has decided to back off for and delay the implementation of these unpopular taxes as the Employee Union in the country is preparing for a two day protest starting November 9. We are not sure whether or not the decision by the government to delay the implementation of taxes will have an effect on the scheduled protest.

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On the sidelines of the 70th General Assembly in New York, President Martelly visited the City Hall of St. Joseph Church to meet the local members of the Haitian community. The President was visibly moved by the warm reception given by his compatriots from Spring Valley. The city Mayor, Demeza Delhomme, while handing over the symbolic key of the city, did not fail to mention this as the first visit ever by a Haitian President.

President Martelly, during his speech, explained about his responsibility and commitment as the head of the State, especially during the few months before the end of his presidential term. He expressed his hope that the new elected authority will work to improve and achieve progress. Martelly, while describing himself as a diaspora, has mentioned about the expectations and responsibilities of diaspora community, to and from the country. In the later part of the 20th century, there was a significant brain drain from Haiti as thousands of Haitian teachers, doctors, entrepreneurs and social workers moved from Haiti to New York and Miami. New York has the second largest foreign born Haitian population after Florida. In November 2008, Noramie Jasmin, a Haitian lady was elected Mayor of Spring Valley, making her the first Haitian-American Mayor in the history of New York State.

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Senator Steven Benoit cried out for a new Decree recently issued by the Martelly government. The decree that appeared in The Monitor number 193 on October 8, 2015 increased the severance pay to all current Ministers and Secretary of States.

According to Steven Benoit, the new decree will give a severance pay in the amount of 2.5 Million gourdes or about $50,000 US dollars to each current Minister at the end of their duties and another 2 Million gourdes or about $40,000 US dollars to each current Secretary.

The Martelly government has appointed over 30 Secretaries and each will be entitled to this money.

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On October 13, 2015, at the request of the Haitian President Michelle Martelly, his counterpart, the Dominican President Danilo Medina met him at the airport Maria Montez, in Barahona, Dominican Republic, in a high level meeting to discuss and resolve about the crisis arising out of the transport ban on 23 Dominican items coming to Haiti. After the meeting, both the Presidents have vowed to establish a committee to find ways for the trade dispute arising out of the ban within a fortnight. Haitian ban has earned the ire of both the Dominican government and merchants because as per their statements it violates the bilateral agreements between the countries.

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Yesterday, Sunday, October 11, 2015, two separate meetings were held in Montrouis and Arcahaie in an attempt to put an end to the current stand off between the residents of Arcahaie and the Martelly government. As you may remember, Michel Martelly has issued a decreed to create 5 new communes. In one of these new communes, Côte des Arcadins, is where his recently built multimillion dollars mansion is located.

It was reported that several senior officials of the Primature were present at the meetings, however no concrete decisins were made. While many mentioned the presence of Prime Minister Evans Paul at these meetings, leaders representing the communities of Montrouis and Arcahaie would not confirm that.

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Minister of Trade and Industry says Labor Code must be revised to spur Economic Growth

Minister of Trade and Industry, Jude Day, wants to see new laws on the books, supporting an increase in production of companies in technology, clothing manufacturing, and furniture-making sectors.

His visit to tablet maker, Surtab, impressed him with technological advances the company has made.

Day feels the labor code must be updated so these sectors can experience strong growth, making Haiti more competitive in the global market.

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Since the decision of President Michel Martelly to issue a decree renewing the mandate of Haiti Police Chief Godson Orelus for another three years, rumors have not stopped. Many people think that the PNH has not been neutral under Godson Orelus and the decree issued recently to renew the Police Chief for another three years is just a payment for his support to the government and Tet Kale in particular.

Nothing could be more obvious of the dependency of the Haiti Police force to the current Tet kale regime than the decision of Godson Orelus to wear pink in support to Tet kale (PHTK).

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After more than 8 months as Minister of Communication, Rotchild Francois Jr says enough is enough. Although it appears that the decision was hard to make, the Minister of Communication has decided to leave his position after ongoing insults, unwelcome jokes that some would qualify as tasteless made by President Michel Martelly on his personality.

In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Evans Paul on September 15, Rotchild Francois Jr explained that the current working environment prevents him from doing his job with professionalism, something he had spend his entire career building.

As you may recollect, during the last CARIFESTA event in the Champ de Mars recently President Michel Martelly publicly ridiculed the function of Minister of Communication presently held by Rotchild Francois Jr. The president stated that Rotchild lies every day.

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