21775: Esser: Aristide's government did not empty state coffers (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

Agence Haïtienne de Presse

May 6, 2004

Aristide's government had emptied the State's coffers only
"virtually", Latortue corrects

Port-au-Prince, May 6, 2004 -(AHP)- Provisional Prime Minister Gérard
Latortue corrected Tuesday the accusations of public funds plundering
against Aristide's government.

In an interview given to the newspaper "Le Nouvelliste", M. Latortue
pointed out in substance that the deposed government had only emptied
the State's coffers "virtually" when it left.

The newspaper considers that this modern language allows an elegant
correction, because the population is waiting for the proofs that the
BRH's safes had really been emptied, like Mr. Latortue had claimed.

On the other side, there are still many waves of revocations in
public administration since March. State employees who have over 20
years of experience have been fired without any other reasons. These
cases have been seen notably in ministries, in decentralized services
and in State media.

Many people consider these revocations are directly linked to
political motivations. In his Tuesday edition, Le Nouvelliste wrote
that such spiteful anger in public administration hasn't been seen
since the 1991 military coup d'état.
.