The Crisis
Haiti is in the midst of another crisis. This time, merely hours after the voting started the main Presidential candidates in the recent elections alleged there was widespread fraud in the process benefiting the government backed candidate Jude Celestin of the Unity (Inite) party. By 1pm, 12 of the 19 Presidential candidates held a press conference at the hotel Karibe in Port-au-Prince. Their demand was simple, categorical and unified: the cancelation of the elections because of alleged frauds. The Karibe Alliance as they were called and their supporters based their demand on three main allegations: first, there was massive ballot stuffing by the Unity (Inite) party; second, the CEP purged the voter rolls or did not allow their supporters to vote; third, outright voter intimidation.
By Monday, however, the passion and demands were becoming a bit more nuanced as returns apparently showed that two members of the Karibe Alliance were leading and may be the ones heading to a runoff. Manigat and Martelly who placed first and third respectively in various polls before the elections began to distance themselves from the group. By Monday, Martelly was claiming that he would accept the outcome and by Tuesday Manigat would only state that she’s in the race until the end. While the now group of 10, which has since added three more candidates and is now 13, maintains that cancelation was the only option out of this political impasse.
The Context
I have been alarmed at the nonchalant ways in which observers from the Diaspora, especially friends for whom I have deep respect, have been bandying about the need for a revolution in Haiti. These friends and colleagues argue that because of the claims of election irregularities, Haitians must take up arms against the current government – one more time. They write, that it would be a tribute to our revolutionary ancestors who exactly 203 years ago, on 29 November 1803, through military force issued a preliminary declaration of independence. While accurate, this analysis oversimplifies the context of the revolution and its impact. As history points out, what resulted was the slaughter of not just French colonizers but also the death of thousands of blacks and mulattos, and the almost complete destruction of Haiti at the time. Those calling for revolution today seem to have also forgotten the brutality of the revolution, which included torture, rape, and mass murders of civilians and combatants alike. Basically, all the macabre displays of cruelty that are associated with any plain vanilla revolution. Indeed, a cursory look at the recent outcome of internal conflicts in Haiti should leave one weary at the possibility of another politically based civil war.
A different Analysis
I want to suggest a different analysis. In the post-earthquake, post-cholera environment, I believe that a good portion of the population took the streets out of frustrations. Their government is absent. Their leaders are ineffective. And this election compounded those frustrations. But at the core of the many challenges in Haiti political, social or economic systems is the near absence of the rule of law. To define the rule of law, I want to highlight the eloquent words of former UN Secretary General, Kofi Anan in which he summarized the rule of law as…
a principle of governance in which all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with international human rights norms and standards. It requires, as well, measures to ensure adherence to the principles of supremacy of law, equality before the law, accountability to the law, fairness in the application of the law, separation of powers, participation in decision-making, legal certainty, avoidance of arbitrariness and procedural and legal transparency.
Under even the most generous application of this definition, Haiti has never known the rule of law. For most citizens, Haiti is a place where injustice has ruled over justice, chaos over order, and inequality over fairness. It is the law of the strong over the weak with no mitigating space for redress or any sense of social compact or contract.
The Recommendation
I want to argue to my friends and colleagues who care about Haiti that support for a sustained application of the rule of law is the best remedy to the country’s ills. Whether one cares about education, health, or economic development, the first step in finding the solutions to these problems must be rooted in the rule of law. In education, for example, the application of the rule of the law has very important implications. In an environment where 800,0000 children are out-of-school and over 60% are illiterate, an important task of any organization that is working on education should be an unabashed support for the application of the Haitian constitution, which makes primary education mandatory and free. Education is also the vehicle through which citizens can learn about their civic obligations and their roles as citizens vis-à-vis the state. The constitution in this case not only guarantees the right to education but it also requires the state to “make schooling available to all, free of charge, and ensure that public and private sector teachers are properly trained.”
On the issue of health, the Haitian constitution of 1987 declares that “The State has the obligation to ensure for all citizens in all territorial divisions appropriate means to ensure protection, maintenance and restoration of their health by establishing hospitals, health centers and dispensaries.” This should be context in which efforts toward health provisioning should be coordinated. On the economic front, Haiti can fulfill its full potentials only if investors have confidence in the judicial system’s ability to fairly adjudicate issues of property rights. A streamline of the administrative bureaucracy will also be an important factor in attracting the necessary foreign investment that is needed for sustained economic growth.
Conclusion
In the midst of calls for a new revolution and the cancellation of the 28 November elections, I want to propose that those of us in the Diaspora with any level of influence to reconsider our positions. Whether the elections were a complete fraud or had some irregularities may never be known given the changing rhetoric of the major candidates and their parties. What is clear, however, is the need to find a political solution that will provide some stability for the reconstruction process to start. It is my sincere hope that my friends and colleagues who are involved in Haiti consider other methods to influence and bring about positive change in Haiti. I have suggested the rule of law as the fundamental issue for Haiti. I believe it is at the core of our dream of a “democratic” society and is central to resolving the many problems that Haiti faces today. This election too shall pass but how we handle this and other similar challenges will define whether we fulfill the dream we all share for Haiti.
