Travel Expenses - Haiti Observer Blog

It was near the end of summer when news of North Miami Police Chief Marc Elias being called into question about various trips he had made to his native Haiti since 2012 using public funds. Elias had said at the time his trips had been official, the last being to act as part of a security detail for North Miami Mayor Lucie Tondreau. While six of his 7 trips over the two-year period have been verified by the necessary documents, warranted compensation from the city, his last trip with the Mayor in August of 2013 did not follow suit. This, consequently, has led to his resignation from the post.

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North Miami Police Chief Marc Elias traveled seven times in Haiti since April 2012. He charged the city each time for a total of $14,000. His travel expenses were paid from city's Law Enforcement Trust Fund which was created out of the money seized from criminals and which was meant to be spend on training, public education, equipment or crime prevention. However, as per the statement of City Manager Stephen Johnson, Elias' most recent trip in August did not have enough documents entitling him reimbursement.

While Lucie Tondreau, the Mayor of North Miami, was in Haiti on a private vacation, Marc Elias, as per his revelation, accompanied him by flying in business class to ensure the mayor's safety. The other purposes of his trips as per his disclosure were, meeting Haitian police staff in a program under strengthening the Haitian Police force, attending eighteenth anniversary celebration for Haitian police force and a swearing-in ceremony for Haiti's national police chief.

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Cap Haitien is about to get an uptick in tourism this summer. Sunrise Airways, a new airliner, has submitted an application to Turk and Caicos Islands (TCI) Air Transport Licensing Authority (ATLA) to ferry passengers between Providenciales and Cap Haitien International Airports (IA).

Sunrise Airways' application must be made public to permit competing air-passenger carriers to make objections. If objections are made, a hearing will be held to determine their validity. The outcome of the hearing will be the deciding factor to either approve or refuse the air carrier an operating license. If no one raises objections, the application will proceed through the review process and sign-offs more quickly. TCI ATLA Director, Tom Swann, has reported to the news media he is not aware of any objections to Sunrise Airways' planned service route.

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President Michel Martelly's administration has been faced with a series of controversies recently. One of the most recent issues is an allegation made by a Haitian senator from the country's North department, Moise Jean-Charles, regarding the President's lavish travel expenses.

Earlier this month, Senator Jean-Charles gave a speech in a Lavalas family party's rally in Brooklyn, New York and an interview to a Haitian newspaper, claiming that Martelly, his family and his staff were wrongly and excessively spending Haiti's money when traveling to other countries that amounted to millions of dollars. This included expensive aircraft rentals, vehicle buying, and unreasonably big withdrawals from the country's central bank for questionable purposes.

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