corruption - Haiti Observer Blog

Radio Kiskeya has reported that in an attempt to bribe some news reporters, the Martelly Government proceeded in the distribution of cash to journalists covering him. According to Liliane Pierre-Paul, on December 23, 2014, several journalists were invited to the National Palace where envelops filled with cash were handed to them. Some of the envelops contained 50,000 gourdes and others, 40,000 gourdes.

As he was handing out these envelops to various news reporters in the room, according to the report, President Michel Martelly told them "By Piti Pa Chic".

Lucien Jura, the Presidential Spokesperson, was in charge of this operation, according to the declaration by Liliane Pierre-Paul who thinks this was an obvious attempt to bribe these reporters. She also reported that the reporters from Radio kiskeya who accepted these envelops have been sanctioned by the Radio Station

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A form of slavery called restavek exists in Haiti, dealing in child trafficking. An international agency index reports over 209,000 Haitians are captives of human traffickers, many children among them. President Martelly's government has passed an anti-trafficking law to address problems of, not only restavek, but human trafficking in general. Before the law can be put into effect, an infrastructure needs building. On the first front, the Haitian National Police must be instructed how to respond to reports of human trafficking, intervention methods, and dealing with courts and social services.

Haitian law uses the term "trafficking in persons" as mobilization, conveyance, and ". . . receipt of persons by means of threat, or . . . use of force . . ." Also, bribing ". . . to achieve consent of a person having control over another person for . . . exploitation." The law specifies activities such as forced labor, prostitution, procurement, pornography to be "trafficking in persons." For youths not yet 18, the law will protect them because it does not require burden of proof, concerning coercion or fraud in restavek situations.

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Second Promotion of customs officers is starting a new class, Customs Legislation and Safety Checks. The ceremony marking the beginning of classes was held at the National School of Financial Administration. In attendance were Haitian Prime Minister Lamothe, Secretary of State, Decembre, and General Director of General Administration of Customs (AGD), Jean-Baptiste.

The government goal is to bolster the AGD's abilities to monitor drug trafficking and smuggling, and reverse the trend of revenue loss to revenue gain. An increased tax base will lead to more job opportunities and small business growth.

Jean-Baptiste expects Second Promotion will follow through on the commitment the Haitian government has made ". . . to achieve greater efficiency in the fight against tax evasion . . ." allowing it to implement more reconstruction projects for people.

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This is supposed to take place today, August 13. The time is 10:00am. The place: before judge Lamarre Belizaire. Former President Jean Bertrand Aristide has a date with the Judge to respond to several charges against him. It covers a period between 2001 and 2004.

Former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide has some serious charges against him, including corruption, money laundering, misappropriation of millions of dollars in public funds, criminal conspiracy and others.

Can all these court hearings lead to the eventual incarceration of former President Jean Bertrand Aristide?

Pawol Pale, Pawol komprann...

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Last week, the Government of Michel Martelly made it public and to the surprise of many that his government is broke and doesn't have any more money. The government did not feel that there was a need to be more specific and to provide the numbers.

In a system of checks and balances which Haiti supposedly has, each of the three branches of government can limit the powers of the others to make sure that the power is balanced between them. The three branches are not independent of one another, each has the necessary powers to check and balance the operations and power of the others.

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So many moons have passed in the Caribbean nation of Haiti where it was governed by the hands and hearts of corrupt leaders, that a break from the norm sometimes seemed an unattainable dream. Recently, however, a small beam of light has been shed in this dark corner, elucidated by a ranking of the country's corruption rate by Transparency International.

Just since last year, Haiti's prospects have looked up with their ranking in the corruption index published by the organization being two places less than what it was in 2012. Out of 177 ranked countries, Haiti now holds 163rd place, a jump which looks even more propitious when one considers that Haiti has moved up 10 whole places in the last two years from their 2011 spot at 175th. The new position means that Haiti has, at last, ascended from the list of the five most corruption nations.

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Covering the Haitian political landscape for nearly half a decade, the insightful tome, 'The Enigma Préval' is Claude Romanian's new book chronicling the life and work of Haiti's former president Rene Préval, who twice won the republic's presidential elections and governed from 1996 to 2001 and then 2006 to 2011.

Using a timeline of his own journey, Romanian captured what are the true catalysts of misery in Haiti, showing that years of political corruption has fueled the activism movement but also served the purpose of enlightening today's youth of the current landscape, juxtaposed with the past, in an effort to bring them back to politics, breathing new breath and fresh life into the stagnant body.

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This Monday, December 16, 2013, two of the most outspoken critics of the Martelly government have a date at "the Barreau de Port-au-Prince. André Michel and Newton St-Juste are to appear there to explain why they accused both President Michel Martelly and Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe in being involved in corruption and Drug trafficking.

What will likely happen?

By asking attorneys André Michel and Newton Louis St-Juste to come at the Barreau de Port-au-Prince they actually provide a new forum for them to publish their message. Most likely they will come up with new accusations on the government.

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Mezanmi, opozisyon an gin jett nan min yo. The special envoy to Haiti for the World Bank said he is concerned on how the Haitian government is using the money generated by Venezuelan petroleum. According to him, that is a lack of transparency.

Blan-an di: "Nou pa ka kite sourit Ap veye format"

Sanble ke World Bank pete yon abse!

Mary Barton-Dock who is the director of the World Bank's office in Haiti, said that lack of transparency was the biggest obstacle to Haiti's economic development.

Ginyin yon proveb ki di, lafimin pa jam soty san dife

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For the first time in over two centuries, Haiti has been making serious headway in rooting out corruption in business and government sectors. Ninety-four suspects have been kept in custody, or charged for practicing corruption within the last year. The latest arrestee is Philippe Chatelin, a local businessperson, who was taken into custody as a suspect in a corruption and contraband scheme, with several Customs officials also participating.

Francisco Rene, Port-au-Prince prosecutor, said his department is committed to wiping out corruption, issuing a warning to those engaged in corruption they will be caught and prosecuted. Government officials claim 90 suspects have been brought in on fraud charges, relating to Haiti's education fund and other government programs.

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