26837: Vedrine (aricle) Good luck to Haitis next president (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: E Vedrine <evedrine@hotmail.com>

“Good luck to Haiti’s next president”

By E. W. VEDRINE
Boston Haitian Reporter, Vol. 6. issue 12
December 2005

If the coming elections happen with transparency, the Haitian people are not 
blind and stupid. As the saying says, “Analfabèt pa bèt” (Being illiterate does 
not mean that one is stupid). They will decide who to vote for in the sense of 
voting a candidate who has shown cares about Haiti’s future, a candidate with 
strong records in the past, one who has done positive things in the society 
before, but not based on how many degrees that person has amassed from 
universities in Haiti or abroad.

It’s about time to let democracy reign over Haiti! And Haitians shouldn’t try 
to impede it in any possible way. They should, instead, pray that these 
elections happen peacefully and in transparency.

I doubt anyone expect the deadly surprises of Ruelle Vaillant (December 1987) 
where so many of our beloved country fellows were gunned down by the macoute 
sector just because they were voting someone they thought to be their favorite 
leader. Whoever gets elected will be the Haitian People’s President and if no 
coup d’état or death happens afterward, will be governing for five years.

Once this person gets elected, we should congratulate that person, wishing him 
the very best and start reminding him of the people’s claims (for the country) 
in order. There’s nothing wrong with doing that as a citizen and his task 
should be to take them into consideration. It’s about time that Haitians focus 
on “strategies to move Haiti forward” instead of on particular parties with no 
agendas.

“Political stability” is also something crucial that the Haitian people need in 
order for Haiti to move forward. The children of Haiti are tired of coup 
d’états back and forth. There have been over thirty so far and every time 
there’s one the country goes backward for many years. Of course we can always 
critique some leaders in a democratic system (be they are in power or not and). 
That’s fine! It’s only dictators who don’t like critiques but praises all the 
time because they don’t want to do everything with transparency. The new 
president of Haiti should certainly include people from all parties and 
background and genres in his government (as long they have a clear record and 
have shown that they really care for the country’s future).

One of the key reason why Haitian politics fail is that the party in power 
always takes power as a private garden, as “chwal papa” (a daddy’s horse – that 
they can run the way they want to) and exclude those who are not members of 
their party or their entourage. So, the whole cake is for members of the party, 
nor for outsiders.

The new formula for success is that Haitian politicians should see power with 
some new eyes: a whole “konbit” (collective work) where everyone is working 
together to achieve one goal and here, that goal would be: Haiti’s development 
and at the same time, there will be advantages for those who take part in that 
great ‘konbit’.

Many fans who support “a party” just want, most of time, “a job”, or “favors” 
if their candidate ascends to power but, nothing else in the sense of seeing a 
country’s needs and how they bring their own contribution. This lack of vision 
and unity tells it all in order to understand where Haiti is where she is.

But, a real Haitian who dreams of changes for Haiti at all levels shouldn’t be 
a fan of any particular party, but instead encourage them to work together, to 
have a vision for their country and how to develop strategies to reach that 
goal. Certainly, inside us, we sometimes know who we would vote for, based on 
certain criteria dealing with the candidate’s record but again, as the Haitian 
saying says “sekrè pa pouri trip chen” (secrets do not spoil a dog’s 
intestine), therefore we keep them to ourselves. Long live Ayiti Cherie! And 
good luck to Haiti’s next president. (E. W. Vedrine).