PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC –Prime Minister Dr. Ariel Henry has promised the High Council of the Transition (HCT) that his administration will do everything possible to ensure the success of the grouping, whose mandate includes setting the stage for the holding of fresh general elections in this Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country this year.
Speaking at the installation of three members to the HCT on Monday, Henry, who took over the government’s leadership following President Jovenel Moise’s assassination in July 2021, said, “it is the beginning of the end of the dysfunction of our democratic institutions.”
In December last year, Prime Minister Henry signed the political agreement entitled “National consensus for an inclusive transition and transparent elections” with representatives of political parties, civil society organizations, and private sector members.
The signatories agreed to a 14-month transition period that would include the holding of new general elections in 2023 and the entry into office of a newly elected government on February 7, 2024.
In addition, the agreement provides, among other things, for establishing the HCT and a body for the Control of Government Action (OCAG), proving a “political balance” in the country.
On Monday, Haitian constitutional law professor and candidate in the 2010 presidential election, Mirlande Manigat, the widow of former president Leslie Manigat, was among three people installed to the HCT.
She will represent political parties, while Calixte Fleuridor of the Protestant Federation of Haiti is the representative for civil society, and Laurent Saint Cyr is the representative for the private sector.
“A dynamic which, since the agreement of December 21, 2022, is about to mark the nation’s history and show the rest of the world that we, Haitians, can agree to find lasting solutions for the smooth running of the country.
“With the official installation…of the members of the High Council of the Transition, it is the beginning of the end of the dysfunction of our democratic institutions,” Henry told the installation ceremony.
“I give the guarantee to the HCT that the government will do everything in its power to provide it with the necessary means to put it in a position to accomplish its mission,” he added.
For her part, Maignat said that there are three major projects that “await us immediately.
“These are the constitutional reform, the strengthening of the judicial system, and the formation of the Electoral Council. We must tackle it without remission because the eyes of the population are riveted on us; for this, we have an obligation of result,” she said.
Maignat told Prime Minister Henry that she was taking the liberty of her colleagues “to invite the members of your government to get involved, in an approach stripped of rivalries, to set up and carry out concrete programs of appeasement social support for the most vulnerable. “Deadlines are now fateful. We, therefore, must meet the expectations of the population. What we are experiencing today is new. It is even exceptional.
“The history of Haiti is certainly dotted with about 50 transitional governments and even interruptions of constitutional prescriptions. Let’s make this new case an opportunity,” she told the ceremony.
Prime Minister Henry has already called for an international force to help in the efforts to bring some form of stability to Haiti, where opposition parties have been staging street demonstrations in their efforts to remove him from office.
In addition, criminal gangs have been staging kidnappings for ransom and other violent acts in defiance of the police and the army.
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