senate - Haiti Observer Blog

The short passage of Emmanuel Menard as head of the CEP will be marked by the person selected to replace him. Attorney Fritzto Canton, lawyer of former Dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier has the honor to assume this position. He was appointed by President Michel Martelly this week.

So what is going on?

Since the nomination of Attorney Fritzto Canton, the critic has not stopped. In fact, if you listen to some comments you would think we are already back into a Dictatorship in Haiti. Some had signaled that this change has strengthen the grip of the neo-Duvalier regime on the electoral machine.

Read more →  

Tout moun ki tape tann "Zin" nan Palman Ayisyen-a te desi jou ki te 13 Janvye sa. Sa ke nou kapab ouè se ke President michel Martelly et Premye Minis Laurent lamothe desannn et kompôte yo nomalman.

Tout moun jwe roll yo jan pou yo te fè li.

Mwen ta espere ke se yon changeman ki vini et kap rete. Lè ke Preseidan, Premye minis, Palmantè, Jij, tout moun konnin et respekte roll yo

Imaj Jounen Ouvèti Premyè sesyon òdinè pou ane lejislativ 2014 la

Read more →  

The President of the Senate has kept his leadership on the Senate. The office of the Senate was renewed based on a resolution passed by the Senators.

The resolution allowed the office of the Senate of the Republic to be renewed in its its entirety for one more year

However there were some recommendations coming mainly from the Senators supporting the government of Michel Martelly. They wish that President of the Senate, Simon Dieuseul Desras, demonstrate greater restraint in his public speeches in the future

Here are the comments from Wencessclas Lambert and others

Read more →  

Since Nicolas Duvalier has posted several pictures distributing gifts with to small Haitian children for Christmas, the "Teledjol" machine has been running. The main rumor has it that Nicolas Duvalier will be running as a candidate in the next election in Haiti.

So what's the big deal? He is Haitian and as any Haitian has the right to run if he believes he can serve his country.

However, since the news came out that Nicholas Duvalier is likely to run for office, this has been reported to have caused general panic in the Lavalas hierarchy. Nicholas is the son of former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier and grandson of another former dictator Francois Duvalier,

Read more →  

At the Plaza Hotel, on Friday, October 11th, a conference was held by the ISC (Civil Society Initiative) where they convened on the matter relating to the ending of the term served by Senators.

The group, constituted of various associations, organizations and institutions pored over those legal documents that speak to the end date for the term served by the Senators, set to be done on the second Monday of the first month of 2014.

In a declaration coming out of the ISC meeting, the various heads of different Civil Society groups stated that their disquiet over the menace of the country's parliament becoming defunct at the date of the next term focused their efforts and had them seeking the advice of experts on the constitution, political scientists and lawyers. From their talks, some observances and determinations were made.

Read more →  

Once the text sanctioning Money Laundering and terrorist financing is promulgated by the President Michel Martelly in the official gazette, all financial institutions, companies, economic enterprises, non-financial, social, professional, religious, humanitarian, international organizations, will be required to report all transactions in cash.

Do you remember all the commotions over this bill?

Some of our beloved Senators and Deputies were totally against it.

Several desks were broken by Deputy Arnel Belizaire to show his frustration over this bill.

The bottom line is that Haiti is no longer running the risk of trade sanction for not having a law on Money Laundering and terrorist financing. The law sanctioning money laundering and terrorist financing was on Monday, November 11, 2013 was passed in identical terms by the two branches of parliament. The vote was as follows: 9 voted in favor, 3 against, 3 abstained

Read more →  

How would you describe the highly publicized interpellation session held in the Haitian Senate yesterday?

A Joke!
A Show!
A display of stupidity!

If your answer is one of the above, you are probably right. The session of interpellation of Jean Renel Sanon, Minister of Justice, David Bazile, Minister of Interior and Territorial Communities and Pierre Richard Casimir, Minister of Foreign Affairs

We would have been better prepared if we knew in advance that this was only a national forum for the Senators to state their long list of grievances about the executive and that we shouldn't be expecting anything concrete.

Read more →  

Let me put it this way instead: Do you think it's the right time for the Haitian Senate to start a new battle with the executive branch of government in Haiti?

After the affair of Attorney Andre Michel that occupied front page last week in almost all Haitian medias as well as some international medias, the Haitian Senate has decided that they also need some attention for themselves as well.

The Senate voted last week to start the interpellation proceeding for 3 Ministers in the Laurent Lamothe Government. The President of the Lower House, Senator Jean-Baptiste Bien-Aimé, made that announced at a press conference last Friday.

Read more →  

Forget about constitution " Konstitisyon Se Papye". Forget about the way most people believe it should be. In Haiti, we do things a little bit differently. Let's put it this way, the power is shared between the three branches of government with only one difference, the executive branch takes a bigger part of the cake.

At least this how our president Michel Martelly sees it. In a recent statement that actually did not please too many Haitian authorities, the president would like to make the public believe that the executive is above the other powers.

Read more →  

President Martelly is on the verge of being impeached. He has delayed national and local elections for almost two years now, citing problems with seating permanent members of the Electoral Council (EC). Both the international community and members of his own government have been calling for elections to be held by the end of 2013. The U.S. is standing by, ready to provide funding, but Martelly keeps using the EC as a scapegoat for not holding elections.

On September 16th, the Patriotic Movement of the Democratic Opposition is planning to assemble a coalition of 11 political parties to move against the Martelly government. They are encouraging Parliament to vote on a proposal presented by 13 Deputies.

Read more →