12173: Durban on Manigat Interview (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Lance Durban <lpdurban@yahoo.com>

Robert Benodin's recent post (Corbett 12137) of an English
translation of former President Manigat's angry interview
requires some comment.

First though, I would like to ask some background on the
ever-helpful Mr. Benodin.  Sir, you do offer a number of
interesting posts in this space, but in the  interests of
"transparence" (don't we just love that word?), might we know
who you are?

Now on to Lesley Manigat, whose personal opinions would hardly
matter except that in Haiti this fellow is somehow revered as a
pillar of intellectual thought, an educator as well as former
President.  People listen to the guy, and he does love to hear
himself talk.  Having heard him babble off on a variety of
topics over the years, it strikes me that Mr. Manigat is clearly
suffering from... verbomania, an ailment whose main
characteristic is an irresistible urge to talk, according to a
recent Corbett post.  His latest ranting interview shows him to
be a short-sighted old windbag, a comic figure on the Haitian
stage.

In my humble opinion, it matters not how good or bad the last
presidential election was in Haiti, nor how large or small the
turn-out was.  Manigat and his fellow-travellers are focusing on
the scenery from the back of the caboose, while our train is
heading toward a cliff.   It would be far more helpful if they
would meander up to the engine room and try to help the
engineer!

Obviously, ex-President Manigat is no friend of President
Aristide, and I have no problem with that.  There may even be
good reason to fault Aristide, but that is not the point.  My
complaint with Mr. Manigat is that by, in effect, calling for
revolution, he is showing an astonishing readiness to by-pass
the constitutional process, which calls for a presidential
election in Haiti every 5 years.  That is someplace where we
should not want to go, and Lesley Manigat of all people ought to
understand that.  Yet we hear him say:

(Quote)
    it is necessary for the people to do something to
    bring the necessary change. The time that we live
    resembles the year 1983 psychologically, when the
    (P)ope Jean-Paul II in visit in Haiti had declared
    "Something must change"
(Unquote)

Well, we all know that Jean-Claude Duvalier did leave under
pressure three years later in 1986, so is Mr. Manigat proposing
to be an obstructionist for the next three years until he
imagines that Mr. Aristide will be cast aside much like
Duvalier?  Uhh, excuse me, but if we are going to wait three
years anyway, why not just work together while waiting for the
next regularly scheduled presidential election, at which time,
and in accordance with the Haitian constitution, the Haitian
people will have the opportunity to choose someone new for the
next 5 year period?

Regards,
L Durban





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