12842: On corruption within Lavalas, another reply to Simidor (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Hyppolite Pierre <hpierre@irsp.org>

I believe that the first opportunity that I had to debate an issue with
Simidor on this list, was over corruption within Lavalas. I believed then as
I do now, that it is a very serious issue that we must carefully approach to
see how it can be resolved. Here is what Daniel wrote in his latest post:

<The usual explanation for an agreement of this kind, and for keeping it
secret, is money changing hands under the table - which, as I explained
earlier, is the Dominican government's preferred way of dealing with Haiti's
so-called leaders. Do I have "proof" that Aristide is getting paid?  It is
silly to even ask.  And yet, given the deeply rooted corruption within
Lavalas, and given that graft and corruption are part of the normal
intercourse between the two countries, is it not logical to infer that
corruption is involved in "the process?">

Well, I will not challenge you on that because I simply don't know. As you
may realize or perhaps misinterpret, I don't like to talk or write about
things that I am not sure of. I will nevertheless accept your argument on
its face for a larger purpose here.

Haiti is indeed a corrupt country. This is not just the privy of Lavalas, as
many people seem to imply. It is now a very deeply entrenched culture caused
by poverty, lack of even civic decorum, misunderstanding of the role of the
State and its institutions, and the lack of accountability at every level.

Let me first say this. In Haiti, we have a culture of what many of us call
"voye monte". By that I mean people stating supposed facts which when they
are checked, are found to be inaccurate, or misunderstood. The latest in
this series is with Evans Paul, aka Kompè Plim, who last week or the week
before, claimed that he had privilege information regarding Aristide who had
purchased a home in Taiwan which he visited while he was there. Finally this
time, not only did Aristide's press people deny it, but even the Taiwanese
Ambassador to Haiti felt that it was necessary to in a diplomatic language,
refute that story. The sad thing was, is that respectable media outlets in
Haiti like Radio Metropole, on its website, published the story in a manner
suggesting that it is a fact, not just an allegation.

Having said this and giving this as an example, I must also add that Lavalas
itself is also responsible for those allegations. Why? Because except in the
above-referenced case, they almost never come out and ask for proof, or
present proof that refute these allegations, or demand the author of those
allegations for proof themselves. In one word, the lack of transparency is
simply appalling. In the end, such an attitude will continue to strike blows
to this movement, whether Lavalas believe it or not.

We must also agree that there is indeed corruption in Haiti, and in
government. Stories that come out of there sadden the strongest of hearts.
Does that mean however, that only the Haitian government is corrupt? Also,
how corrupt is that government? Is that corruption deeply entrenched, or the
results of a number of factors (which I will not take time to discuss here)?

What strikes me is how those who hate Aristide or his movement, suddenly
suffer from myopia when it comes to other sectors in Haiti. This corruption
that you are referring to in Haiti, Daniel, is not just within government.
It is in virtually every active facet of society. Examples abound.

Many foreign governments give out hundreds of thousand or even millions to
political parties in Haiti. Yet, no one can attest to what those parties do
in terms of structuring rationally their group, or try to get on the
national stage. They have yet to publish even a report on Haiti to the wider
audience that has been researched, which we could benefit from. We have no
idea as to how much exactly they get, or how, or where this money goes.
Isn't that a case of corruption, or at least of potential corruption.

Last week or the week before, I was reading a text on Haiti, I believe that
was published on sakapfet.com. The text suggested if I recall correctly,
that the European Union recently gave to the Initiative de la Société Civile
(the Civil Society group mostly associated with the international
community), something like 500 thousand Euros. Now at today's rate, this is
close to if not even slightly above, half-a-million US dollars. I searched
for a while last night to find the text, and couldn't. I now feel sorry
because, I should have printed it, and kept it in my records.

If it's indeed true that the ISC did receive that much money, almost 30
million gourdes, what do they do with that money? How is it distributed? Do
they use it to better organize civil society? Does or can the State (not
just the Lavalas government) audit them on what they do with it?

And what about this plethora of nonprofit organizations that have burgeoned
in Haiti, ever since they've withheld funds to the government? They are
supposed to use that money to alleviate the pain to the poor. In essence,
they are supposed to do what otherwise, the government would have been asked
to do, if they received that money. Is there any accounting of what they do
with it and if so, can they provide that information to the public?

Finally, to control corruption in Haiti, how many auditing firms that are in
existence? Would for instance a business, agree to be audited by some
independent firms over its real assets, an essential request in a market
economy?

So everyone has a responsibility in this context to not only attack Lavalas
on this issue, but also to look at the entire society and see how you can
build mechanisms of control, so corruption can be if not eradicated, at
least controlled, so that it does not remain the very serious impediment to
economic progress that it is.

What we are doing, as I wrote it last time in "the process" email, is
attacking one side and not seeing the totality of the problem to ensure that
it is once and for all corrected. I understand that nowadays, Lavalas and
Aristide personally is the punching bag of the opposition. At the same time,
we must be honest with ourselves, and discuss the problem in its totality,
to find the appropriate solutions that will benefit Haiti overall.
Otherwise, we will keep moving from having one group of non-transparent
politicians in power, to another, and another. Worse, Haiti will simply keep
on getting poorer and poorer that way.

Hyppolite Pierre
IRSP
http://www.irsp.org