24038: Philippe: (reply) on New Year's Revolutions

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: "Philippe [iso-8859-1] Clérié" <philippe@gcal.net>

I just got on this list, so, first, a Happy New Year to all.

I realize it's not customary for new subscribers to post so early but I
could not resist this. But I am playing nice: I did not address all the
points. :-)

I am one that would argue an interim government should proceed with
caution on ANY initiative. On the other hand proceeding with caution
need not be a synonym to standing still or, much worse, regression.

Taken at face value, your "resolutions" are certainly valid areas that
do necessitate immediate and even forceful action. However, I feel that
your priorities are misplaced even if your heart is in the right place.

Take the first two resolutions for example. As a foreigner, even if a
long time resident of Haiti, I understand your concern with
practicalities. So it's easy for you to recommend dumping security and
elections into the UN's lap. From my point of view as a haitian, these
are highly significant areas where haitians NEED to and MUST establish
THEIR credentials and THEIR willingness to change. If we can't organize
ourselves to secure our own society or to choose our own - quote -
leaders - unquote - then we might as well ask the Security Council to
name a governor and be done with it. Which, I am sure, many, many
people would just love to do.

You don't want to see that government get into the privatization mess.
They can't do it. A few weeks ago, they went back on two minor measures
before they even tried to apply them. Boutiliers is still being mined
and containers are still getting into Saint-Marc. My guess is pressure
was applied that could not be resisted. It will get immensely greater
where Teleco and EDH are concerned.

Pension reform is a nice idea, but most people don't even say ONA and
pension in the same breath. ONA is just a way to get a cheap loan to
build a shack or a house or something in between. With luck and some
magouille, the borrower may even get away with not paying back the
loan. And that's just ONA. We haven't even begun to talk about a whole
raft of issues around this particular issue.

I'll skip the rest. To make a long story short, there are two things and
two things only I would ask of this government:

1) Make sure that we have an electoral PROCESS, not just an election,
that is relatively clean and acceptable to all (most?) parties.

2) Make some visible progress toward cleaning up the PNH and securing
the whole country.

That's about all we should ask them and hope they can deliver. But if
they would throw in "collecting taxes in Miami" as a bonus, I would not
mind at all.

Regards,
Philippe Clérié


On Wednesday, 5 January 2005 11:06, Bob Corbett wrote:
> From: Lance Durban <lpdurban@yahoo.com>
>
> Dear Corbetters,
>
> While some might argue that any interim government should
> proceed with caution on major new initiatives, I would argue Mr.
> Latortue should be using the next year of relative political
> stability to take action on a whole raft of issues that need
> attention.  Claiming 'lack of mandate' is a cop-out that will
> only increase opposition to his administration in its second
> year.  Expanding on suggestions tossed out a couple of weeks ago
> on this Corbett List (#23984), here then are some goals that
> Prime Minister Latortue might set for himself for the next 12
> months.  Call them belated New Year's resolutions.
>
> 1. Chimere/Rebel problems and Training the PNH
>      While very important, the time and effort needed pacify
> these two groups risk crowding out other matters and should be
> the very first thing delegated to the U.N. peacekeepers.  Give
> the U.N. full authority to resolve these problems, hold them
> accountable for results, and move on.
>
> 2. Organize Elections
>      Determine within the next month if the CEP is going to be
> up to be able to pull this off.  If not, call in the U.N. and
> other specialized outsiders for help (The Carter Center in
> Atlanta or George Soros' Open Society come to mind).  The
> Latortue adminitration will be held responsible for the success
> or failure of the elections, so it needs to be pro-active.
>
> 3. Re-emphasize Property Taxes
>      No country can finance itself adequately on international
> hand-outs, and clearly any government does need a source of
> revenue to function.  Most would agree that this revenue should
> come from those in society best able to pay, and in Haiti, that
> means the elite.  The best way of ensuring compliance as well as
> fairness in the tax system in Haiti is to base it on visible,
> in-country real estate.
>
> 4. Collect Haitian Duties in Miami
>      The U.S. is interested in accurate valuation of exports and
> works with shipping lines to ensure compliance.  Haiti should
> set up a system whereby Haitian importers can make their
> declarations based on U.S. export documents and pay Haitian
> duties in Miami.  This would almost certainly increase total
> collections and simultaneously combat corruption on the part of
> Haiti-based customs inspectors.
>
> 5. Sell Teleco
>      This state asset in a rapidly-changing, capital intensive
> industry should be auctioned off immediately in full recognition
> that the winning bidder will likely be one of the international
> heavyweights.  In Haiti today, customers wait years to get a new
> telephone installed in their homes, usually by Teleco employees
> moonlighting on Sundays!  Teleco remains a bloated, inefficient
> dinosaur that no serious owner would tolerate.
>
> 6. Privatize Ed'H
>     Bid this out before the end of the year.  Give the new
> owners the mandate to produce AND distribute electricity to
> anyone one on the grid who wants it, subject only to rate
> approvals by a public utility board.  It is hard to believe that
> the present Ed'H, operating a legal monopoly with plenty of
> customers ready and willing to pay for the product, still cannot
> supply the product.
>
> 7. Pension Reform
>     There is a social security system in Haiti (ONA) which takes
> a significant bite (6%) out of the earnings of wage-earners.
> Employers contribute another 6%, but it is safe to say that most
> employees are lucky to get even half of the total back.  The
> interim government has a rare opportunity to clean house and set
> in place a better system, but so far there has been little more
> than minor re-shuffling at the top.  Sad.
>
> 8. Protection of Children
>     The restavec phenomena (sometimes refered to as child
> slavery) is a Haitian institution that cannot be changed
> overnight.  Nevertheless, few people would oppose a measure to
> protect these most vulnerable members of Haitian society.  An
> easy start would be signing the international convention on
> adoption procedures which aims to protect not only defenseless
> children (the adoptee), but also the adopting parents, and the
> child's natural parents (if known).
>
> 9. Investment in Education
>      Haiti's atrocious record in educating its young people has
> historically ensured that the cycle of poverty is never broken.
> Education is where the big bucks should be invested, yet the
> needs are so great one almost doesn't know where or how to
> begin.  Teacher training would be a good place to start.
>
> 10. Urban Road-building
>      Presently USAID monies are being being thrown at short-term
> employment generation in the form of street sweepers...
> literally, teams of otherwise unemployed people who march up and
> down the roads pushing dirt around.  Talk about throwing money
> away.  Let's transfer some of these people into labor intensive
> road-building, teams of the same folks who will make and lay
> concrete paving stones after roadbeds have been prepared.  This
> will employ somewhat fewer people per dollar spent but create
> something more permanent.
>
>            --------------------------------------
>
> Each of the above ten points merit discussion, and I would
> encourage interested members of the diaspora to add their
> thoughts.  To increase public comment, I am copying some
> non-list members in and out Haiti with the suggestion that they
> might join the Corbett list <corbetre@webster.edu> to better
> contribute their thoughts on these and other matters of
> importance to Haiti.
>
> Lance Durban

-- 
Best regards,
Philippe Clérié