23095: Stephenson: Leslie F Manigat speaks his mind (fwd) Short English Version (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: PatrickStephenson <patrickstephenson@videotron.ca>

Full french version available upon request.





Leslie F Manigat takes occasion of an interview with Haiti-Platform, of
Paris, to speak, after the National Convention of its party the RDNP, of
abunndance, of the major edges of its thought and that of its party on the
basic problems of the current haitian politic and actuality topics which are
shaking public opinion.



Manigat interview - Haiti-Platform, of Paris the leader of the RDNP
Professor Leslie François Manigat officially announced his candidature for
the presidency of the Republic of Haïti in 2005. In margin of the Convention
of this party the 6 and last 7 of August, Haiti Tribune met for you the new
candidate, Leslie F Manigat which granted an interview to us (new version,
faithful to the original but appreciably condensed, see full translated
article below)



 Haiti-Platform: Mr. Leslie François Manigat Good morning, the Gathering of
the National Democrats Progressists of Haïti, the RDNP has organized August
6, and 7 2004 its 7th National Convention which coincided with its 25th
anniversary, how goes the RDNP today?

The point where we are today, carries the greatest hopes in terms of
combat-readiness quality and the expected result, that is the necessity and
the opportunity for us and the quasi-certainty which will results from this,
to undoubtedly win, Providence helping of course, to crown our efforts.

 It is known that our RDNP young leaders are very active and extremely
serious about their position on the problems, even when questionning their
correct solution.

We believe in clean business with a well deserved profit, a legitimate
profit, and it is a fact that the whole country is available for the reign,
from now on, of competence,  integrity, experience, the respect and
sensitivity for the common good, and patriotic openness to the world, that
is, in short, everyone is available for the capacity-service Mission
recommended by the RDNP.

There are people in this country who have already ensured themselves of the
means of material living by their work, the heritage and ingeniosity of
their entrepreneurial skills and constant efforts in the private sector, and
for us, the peasant-farmer community is also part of the private sector.

This is today's concretely lived  reality, as could testify by their
presence eminent foreign guests, American personalities as the former
President of the International Relations Commission of the USA Congress
(Congress, Capitol Hill) the honourable Benjamin Gilman and his wife
Georgia- French personalities like the president of the Social Action
Committee of the Protestant Federation of France, Paris, Jacques Perrier,
and Latin-Americans like the representative of  the American Christian
Democracy Organisation (ODCA) José Soto, and caraibeeans like the senator
Mike Eman, of the Federation of the Neerland Antillas and president of 'AVP
of Aruba, in particular.

The Prime Minister Gerard Latortue himself made us the late surprise but at
named point, to answer to our invitation and  willingly listen with smile,
even sometimes applause at chosen times. Even in the passages where we
firmly censured, with our usual critical direct frankness, but with
courteous elegance, negative aspects of his political behavior and his
administration, including his collaboration in the foolish attempt to
exclude us in the fortunately pluralist political play, by pressing him to
correct, yes to correct, truly correct what was badly made, in a word, to
rectify the target aiming, while punctuating high and clear that we are for
the transition to succeed, and that the famous billion 300 million announced
to be obtained by him from rescue donators in the international community
but also orders givers. In addition to of the absorption capacity problem to
be solved quantitatively and qualitatively in 18 months, we hope this will
be spent for the real needs of the people and the durable development of the
country and not volatilized in "I do not know which projects" without
"accountability ", jeopardizing and further burdening our national future.

What is important for us as urgent work for the RDNP, we wanted to highlight
two things: First the need to actualize and modernize the Constitution and
the statutes of the party, then to update and modernize the RDNP program
entitled " To change life " . We have a defined position that we are now
actualizing, and that will be published soon after our convention, in the
new version of " to change life " . A solution recognizing the need for
Forces of Order and common good protection for the safety of the citizens
and the national defense, by which one can identifies us, We have organized
seven Conventions including this one. Each time we have brought together
people from all over the country.

It's the activists of the Party Base, common people of the interior, the
modest fighter for the daily bread which, with notables and personalities,
have promptly acted to represent their counties at the Art Palace  at the
National Conventionon the 6 and 7 of August.

I will say something simpler to you: you know what it is about when you are
the president of the Republic, at the head of the Executive power, when it
achieves its constitutional attributions, it is the institution which is
constantly in contact with the country.



H.T: You have expérienced Being in power, but your short passage to the
presidency of the Republic in 1988 was very criticized due to the fact that
you reached this capacity in favour of the disputed elections organized by
the military, do you think that this passage can weight on your political
future?

-          It's  because we have been in power precisely, with a positive
record, with a remarkable and serious Team, an action that already proved
its fruits and showed in which direction the country went, It's because we
did all this, that now it's a good thing that we have all these people to
point out the achievements of the government of February 1988, and how it
was too bad for the country that the experience was stopped so quickly.

-          That is  why we had proposed for post- Aristide, a durable
transition to attack the basic problems in order to bring the country on
rails, decontract political life, get rid of divisions and tensions and even
of the obsolete complexes. With the straightforwardly extra-constitutional
solution that we had recommended, one would would have a chance to  mobilize
all the possibilities and energies of the country to firstly fight the
current plagues in three years, so that we reach a level which allows to
succesfully give a direction to each one life and also to political action
itself. This is not the first time that the serious fundamental suggestions
of the RDNP were ignored - One remembers our insistence to to adapt our
realities, to what I will call " the Chilean model " to present a single
candidate for the presidency against Aristide - but everyone paid and we are
still paying.

-          Today, hope is glittering from the point of view of the elections
of 2005 if the transition manages to guarantee their already weakened
credibility.



HT: Has there been any changes operated in the party leadership ?

-          That is done every three years, that is the reason for organizing
a Convention at the end of which internal elections are held to choose the
leading authorities. I have  announced that after the presidential élection
of 2005 for which my candidature was ratified by the party by acclamation
(one does not change a good horse in the middle of the river), I will leave
the direction of the RDNP which will pass to a new younger leadership. It is
the last time that I will return as secretary-general of the RDNP because of
the national general elections at all levels which we must make and succeed
together, from local to presidential, in current inter-generational
solidarity. That is the interdependent position within the party, from my
wife and first collaborator which supports the presidential candidature of
her husband, to the humble militant of the base, as shown unanimously at the
National Convention. But with regard to the party Leadership, for me the
decision is already made, in less than 18 months there will be a public
statement after the results of the presidential elections, a declaration
that states that I leave the direction of the party in other hands. When I
have been president elect of the Republic in 1988  I had  already announced
that I would quit  the direction of the RDNP, that we were going to have a
congress in August 1988 to have a new direction at the head of  the party,
myself having sware the oath as constitutional president of the Republic in
February. For the reasons you know this was not possible. This time It will
be done after the results of the presidential elections, probably around
Easter 2006, in an extraordinary congress of the RDNP. Thus there will be a
change of generation, a renewal within the head of the party envisaged just
after the new president of the Republic come to office. Eh well, some are
the results of the known as presidential elections, at Easter humbly thus,
we will convene an extraordinary congress for the change of the political
leading personnel of the party. But, in all the cases, I pass the hand as
secretary-general of the RDNP, after more of a quarter century of what will
have been the Leslie F Manigat era. The Vision of the RDNP is essentially
that we believe in a certain idea of the country. Eh well, all my life I
have fought for this idea  of Haïti, and that idea, others shared it with
me. The results are there proving that populism is not the solution, that it
resulted in a general situation of "Chaos"  which vegetated until the
approach of the Bi-centenary of  National Indépendance and foreign military
intervention and today still hide in a corner despite the foreign military
presence, which is an anomaly that our Latin-American friends must recognize
like as such.