News Information

• NEWS_POSTED_BY: Haiti Place
• NEWS_POSTED_ON: Jan 27, 2015
• Views : 709
• Category : Haiti News
• Description :

  By Dady Chery
  NEWS JUNKIE POST

  Jan 12, 2015 at 10:39 pm

• Location : Port-au-Prince, Ouest, Haiti
• Website : http://newsjunkiepost.com/2015/01/12/midnight-of-haitis-parliament-on-the-earthquakes-anniversary/

Overview

• Just as the earthquake had rattled the ground under the feet of Haitians, the dissolution of the Haitian Parliament at midnight, 00:00 on January 12, 2015, exactly five years later, has shaken to the core Haiti’s republican institutions. Right at the day’s start, the terms expired for all 99 members of the House of Representatives and 10 Senators. With only 10 members left, the Senate lacks a quorum and cannot function. This loss of the legislature, plus the replacement in 2012 of every elected judge, mayor and other local executive by presidentially-appointed “interim executives,” have concentrated all the country’s power in Michel Martelly, who is now a full-blown dictator. The current state of affairs resulted from Martelly’s deliberate neglect to organize elections for almost four years. Year after year, he demanded a rewrite of the Constitution as a precondition for elections, and year after year, the Senate refused to yield to his demands. One of the amendments would have allowed consecutive terms for Haitian presidents and made it possible for him to extend his tenure to 10 years.

  As Haiti’s government was systematically dismantled according to a plan laid out by Bill Clinton in 2011, the international community wholeheartedly supported Martelly. Every year, the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) justified its $500 million budget and the renewal of its mandate by promises that it would organize elections and render the horrific situation in Haiti yet more stable. After 10 years of such “stabilization,” the crime rate has climbed, the parliament is dysfunctional, and the Haitian government counts less than one percent of its normal number of elected officials.

  The absence of legislators from Haiti did not deter United States Ambassador Pamela White from organizing a meeting at 10 a.m. between Martelly and Haiti’s phantom lawmakers and then trumpeting, in a press release, that they had reached an agreement. The pact was signed by the following motley crew of insignificant parties and non-governmental organizations (NGO):

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