27962: Vedrine (review) 27926: Senou: Comment: A Call for a Coalition and a Unity gove

[corbetre@webster.edu]

From: E Vedrine <evedrine@hotmail.com>


Review of Senou's article, "A Call for a Coalition and a Unity gove"

(by E. W. Vedrine)

Yes, everyone knows that the presidential elections are over and Preval is
the president-elect. Haitians (most of them) don't see things in the
American way (in terms of the elections are over, congratulate the winner).
It's terrible when reading about Manigat's reaction about Preval, the
winner. Manigat who came in secound position does not even get 13% (of over
90% of the votes counted) and he's been complaing about an "electoral coup"
(against him), and even thinking of all possible ways for a legal fight. I
don't know how many of us have read one the funniest fables by La Fontaine,
"La grenouille et le boeuf". Where's the beef (in the case of Manigat's
wanting to burst)?

Senou, in his article suggests that the 'Diaspora or the mainland' must work
together. The thing is that we (Haitians in the Diaspora - those who really
want to help Haiti) need the PROPER CHANNELS to do so and of course, we
focus on ANY serious government who ascends to power to create / open these
channels. In other words, we need STRUCTURES (as models to help us or to
follow). I talk about the importance of HUMAN RESOURCES in a latest article
I've written, how Haiti can benefit from it. But unfortunately, that has
never been exploited to help Haiti to my knowledge. Shouldn't that be part
of the "Minister of the Diaspora"'s agenda (to create these crucial channels
in order to exploit human resources for the benefit of Haiti's development?
I guess this should be among the most important agendas' of the incoming
government. Yes, there are many Brothers and Sisters in the Diaspora who
would love to help Haiti with all their heart BUT, they need proper
channels, institutions to do so and something that the following government
can build upon to help the country moving forward.

At the same time, we SHOULD encourage group of people who are trying to do
anything to help (without waiting for these proper channels to be created).
Among these groups, we can mention the "regional groups" (e.g, some people
who are from certain regions in Haiti decide to get together to do something
to help their native province: building a clinic, school, hospital, create a
business, an activity for the youth, whatever...). This is an excellent idea
because at the same time, the country has too many problems to be solved and
really if we are conscious, it would be impossible to wait for any
government who ascends to power to solve all of of Haiti's problems in 5
years. But these projects MUST BE ENCOURAGED by the Haitian government, they
must try to support these groups (for instance, facilitate them if they need
certain autorisation from the govenment to proceed with what they are doing,
certain help to ship some materials to Haiti and we know the headache they
can have through the CUSTOMS service in Haiti. Confronting these problems
can discourage them from helping their own provinces (that are part of Hati)
when the government can't help them and in a way, they are helping the
government somehow by making the burden lighter for them.

BLAMING each other and taking revenges are among the points mentioned by
Senou. Yes, Haitians are very good at that (blaming each other and taking
revenges, blaming former colonizers all the time instead of taking
responsibility for their own mess). It's a whole MENTALITY that needs to be
changed here (to GROW up in a way), and that can't be done over night. Not
only we have to preach what's good to be done constantly, but also we (who
are doing the preaching) must also set examples as models to follow.

In Senou's suggestion to 'to follow Mandela footsteps'. We first see
FORGIVENESS here and be able to work with RIVALS. But can that really happen
in Haiti? But first, shouldn't there be a JUSTICE system (to tell "x"  or
"y" of their wrong doings before forgiveness can be granted (if he wants to
follow the Mandela' model)? Look how many people who have been in jail since
Latortue came to power (in few days, 2 years) and these prisoners never see
their judge, something that's against the constitution because they MUST see
their judge in two days. So, I guess Senou is going to think of that (how to
grant forgiveness after justice is done). Yes, we can FORGIVE and not
FORGET. Haitians are not easy to forgive and we know that. Is it really part
of the Haitian culture or of a political culture (back home)?

In calling to 'establish a bridge between those 'who have' and those 'who
have not', as Senou mentions, our question is: How SOLID can that bridge be?
Here, I see that he leaves out TO CREATE. How about that, create also to
empower  'who have not', teach them how to create to have (not just "give"
them)? If you show me how to fish, it would be better than giving me a fish
daily for I can be on my own catching many every day in the nearby water and
at any time (teaching to be independent).


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