By Joseph Guyler C. Delva
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (HCNN) – Haiti’s newly installed presidential Council has promised security, justice, and economic recovery, while constitutional reform and credible general elections also top the agenda, as the troubled Caribbean country seeks its way out of the crisis.
The nine-member Presidential Council of Transition (also known by its French acronym CPT) has, under heavy security measures, taken office on Thursday and vowed to organize a national conference to build a large consensus on major issues facing the country.
A member of the CPT, Regine Abraham, who delivered a speech on behalf of the whole council, said the presidential council will launch five major projects.
“The restoration of public security; the holding of a national conference and of a constitutional reform; the organization of democratic, credible and participative general elections,” Abraham stated in a speech on Thursday.
“The restoration of the justice system, of the rule of law, and of the fundamental rights recognized to citizens; institutional and economic recovery,” Abraham cited among the council’s most important goals.
The representative of the Council said the population, in the metropolitan area of the capital Port-au-Prince, ” has been taken hostage, which has exponentially worsened the living conditions of the people.”
“We’ve witnessed the total collapse of our institutions and the bitter failure of a government that has completely abandoned its responsibility to protect the population from criminal violence, and to offer needed public service to the population and to manage the economy.”
According to Abraham, ” in the face of the unprecedented crisis, the entire population has acknowledged the urgent and pressing need for a vigorous handling of efforts necessary to pull the country out of the spiral of despair and destruction. It is in this context that political parties, civil society, private sector and diaspora organizations have, on April 3, reached a historic political agreement to direct the country toward the path of security, stability and economic recovery,” Abraham stated.
Officials had initially planned to hold the whole inaugural ceremony at the presidential palace, situated within the “Champ de Mars” area, where gangs and police special units have been exchanging fire for several weeks now.
Given the circumstances, officials had decided to organize a two-step inaugural ceremony. One, early morning, at the presidential palace, where council members were sworn in, and the other one, at the “Villa d’Accueil” (Welcome Villa), a sumptuous government building, where guests and the media had been invited to attend.
Ariel Henry and his government have officially resigned through a formal letter and the new presidential council has appointed a new prime minister in the name of
Michel Patrick Boisvert, the current finance and economy minister.
In the absence of then-travelling prime minister Ariel Henry, Boisvert played the role of interim prime minister.
The members of the diplomatic corps; the Jamaican leader, Andrew Holness and a wide range of local politicians and representatives of civil society organizations were in attendance.
Many salute the move and hope Haitian and international actors will continue to make and back efforts towards turning the situation around in Haiti.
“I believe it is the beginning of a recovered national unity, and this bodes well for the future,” leading politician, Clarens Renois, told the Haitian-Caribbean News Network. “Many remain pessimistic about the final outcome of the current effort, but we all need to cooperate in order to make sure it is a success,” said Renois.
“If this effort fails, it is the whole country that will pay for the consequences,” Renois told HCNN.
