PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC – The members of the Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) will be sworn into office on Thursday, a member of the Council has confirmed.
Lesly Voltaire said that the ceremony, initially scheduled for the National Palace, will now occur at the Villa d’Accueil (Musseau) at 10:00 a.m. (local time).
Media reports said that criminal gangs attack the Champs de Mars area daily, and the need to keep bandits out of the perimeter was the reason behind the change in venue.
Following the inauguration, the CPT will proceed to the election of the President-coordinator of the Transition Council, with at least four people—Louis Gérald Gilles, Lesly Voltaire, Edgard Leblanc Fils, and Fritz Alphonse Jean—among the names earmarked for the position.
The media reports said that the number of guests had been considerably reduced, with each CPT member being allowed to invite ten persons in addition to the diplomatic and consular corps.
Prime Minister Dr. Ariel Henry, who was sworn in with the backing of the international community shortly after President Jovenel Moïse’s assassination in July 2021, has already indicated that he will step down once the CPT is officially installed. A new prime minister was sworn in ahead of the fresh elections.
Henry is stranded in Puerto Rico, having been unable to return home from Kenya, where he witnessed the signing of an agreement that would allow the African country to lead a United Nations Security Council-sanctioned Multinational Security Mission (MSS) to restore peace and security in Haiti.
Earlier this month, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) welcomed the establishment of the CPT.
For his part, Guterres urged all Haitian stakeholders to continue making progress in implementing transitional governance arrangements, including the timely appointment of an interim Prime Minister and government and the nomination of the members of the Provisional Electoral Council.
CARICOM welcomed the publication of the decree establishing the CPT earlier this month, saying it “signals the possibility of a new beginning” for the French-speaking country.
“CARICOM has supported Haiti, its sister nation, through the challenging process of arriving at a Haitian-owned formula for governance that will take the troubled country through elections to restore the lapsed state institutions and constitutional government.
In its statement, CARICOM said the CPT “devised a framework setting out the creation, organization, and functioning of the Council, and arrived at a Political Accord articulating the way forward.
The statement added,” The CARICOM Heads of Government fully endorse the principles of the Political Accord, and in particular take note of Article 16, which states, “The mission of the Presidential Council is to put Haiti back on the road to dignity, democratic legitimacy, stability, and sovereignty and to ensure the proper functioning of the State’s institutions.”
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