El Rancho Agreement not Popular with Parliament

May 17, 2014 5:51 PM

The Inter-Haitian dialogue is being stalled by political infighting. An accord called the El Rancho Agreement (ERA) was supposed to be signed by Parliament within ten days. At issue are two articles of the ERA, Articles 12 and 13. Article 12 concerns amendment of the Electoral Act. Parliament claims Article 12 runs contrary to the spirit of Haitian law and its Constitution. They also claim signers have no legitimate authority to approve Article 12. Beyond the ten-day period, Parliament is relieved of its obligation to sign Article 12.

Article 13 of the ERA stipulates ". . . the Monitoring Committee had no binding power to force actors to respect their commitments . . ." Commission members are calling on Parliament to honor their commitment and sign the ERA. To further entangle the process, First Secretary of the Office of the Senate, Senator Benoit, has tendered his resignation to make a political statement. To sum it all up, Parliament made commitments written into the ERA, but now refuses to legitimize those commitments.

President Martelly bowed to the insistence of Parliament he publish sections of the ERA in Le Moniteur, yet Parliament is still not satisfied and won't sign. Cardinal Chibly Langlois, the Mediator of the Inter-Haitian dialogue, is trying to rescue the ERA from becoming enmeshed with the ongoing conflicted dialogue. Only one thing is certain, all actors in this made-for-reality-TV drama are confused, while Haiti Libre and this writer try to make sense of it.

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El Rancho Agreement not Popular with Parliament

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