I have to say that I was glad to learn of Haiti's electoral commission's decision to not allow Wyclef Jean to run for president. Although I realize that desperate times often call for desperate measures, I do not think placing a musician in the presidential palace would qualify as such. Doing so would be not only desperate, but outright dumb. Besides, I truly believe that Mr. Jean has the potential to help create a bright and prosperous future for his country without ever getting directly involved in politics. He should remain the iconic Haitian that he is, while continuing to use his fame to ensure that the recovery efforts continue until they are complete. He is the ultimate pundit, because he has the funds to back up the ideas he expounds.
Folks have questioned the purity of Mr. Jean's intentions, noting discrepancies involving his aid organization, Yele Haiti. These issues arose in the days directly following the tragic earthquake. Since then, investigations by experts have found no evidence to support the allegations that he used donations for personal expenses. Though he was "lackadaisical about filing his tax returns," both he and his organization were cleared of any wrongdoing. Jean did not misuse Yele haiti Funds
Still, like all nasty stories, this one will continue to follow Mr. Jean. I personally think that the singer has seen enough devastation and heartbreak over the past year to transform any greed he may have had in his heart to compassion. Still, empathy cannot run a country.
Mr. Jean has absolutely no political experience. The pop star may be able to carry a tune, but he will not be able to sing his way into reconstructing a city that remains in complete shambles almost 10 months after the earthquake. The future president of Haiti will need to have exceptional organizational skills, and be experienced in comprise. He will need to be familiar with the international political landscape, and capable of interacting on an intelligent and dignified level with foreign dignitaries. The qualifications list goes on and on, and unfortunately, I don't see Mr. Jean possessing many of these qualities or abilities.
I do not know anything about the other 19 candidates, I hope that one of them has the political experience, and personal drive to save this island country. With billions of international dollars waiting to be used, the potential for greatness is endless, but so is the possibility for corruption and extended poverty.
If Mr. Jean really wants to help his homeland, he will become an unofficial ambassador for the Haitian people, following the money and making sure steady progress is made. Instead of joining the team of one of the candidates, (as Professor Jones recommends at the end of this article: Wyclef cannot Run for President), I think the former musician would do better standing alone, on the outside, so as to maintain a clear view of all aspects of the recovery process, and the folks involved. Only then will he be able to offer criticism and complements on an unbiased basis, and back up his fair judgments with the money his organization has raised. I honestly think Mr Jean has the potential to do much more as a famous citizen than he ever could as president.
___
Update: 8/22
Haitian officials: Wyclef Jean will not be on presidential ballot
___
9/20
NYT: Haitians plead: ' Please --do something!"
"It’s like screaming into the wind.”
Those are the words Ms. Felicien used to describe her desperate pleas for help. But few people are listening. Media coverage has long ago shifted away from Haiti. The new disaster is the Pakistan floods.
Aid organizations are slowly getting started creating new towns. But with over 1 million displaced people, the road ahead seems unending.
___
10/23
Death toll rises from Haitian cholera outbreak (CNN, 10/23/2010)
A deadly cholera epidemic that has already claimed over 200 lives is spreading quickly in Haiti. Fears are that if it is not curbed, the outbreak could reach the densely populated capital of Port-au-Prince. North of the capital, where the disease seems to be the worse, hospitals and clinics are filling up too fast to provide care to all who need it. According to Terry Snow, Haiti director for the nonprofit Youth With a Mission, a victim perished in the back of his pick up truck because he was unable to find a hospital with a bed. Sadly, the scene is eerily reminiscent of the aftermath of the January 12th earthquake, just on a smaller scale.
___
10/24
Cholera outbreak creeps closer to Haiti's capital (Yahoo News, by Jacob Kushner, 10/23/2010)
Reports of cholera cases closer to Port-au-Prince are trickling in, including 50 cases at a prison just North of the capital. An unconfirmed case in a 6 year old girl is still under investigation. Furthermore,:
"At least five people who traveled from the Artibonite region to Port-au-Prince on Saturday tested positive for cholera once they arrived in the capital, where they are being treated, she said. Aguirre said they are not considered the first cholera cases of Port-au-Prince because officials believe the people contracted the disease in Artibonite."
Cholera is a new disease for this generation of Haitians, so NGO's are focusing on educating people about proper hygiene, as well as purifying water supplies with chlorine. Under current conditions, however, it is hard to imagine the outbreak not reaching the tent cities in the capital.
___
10/24
Haiti cholera toll tops 250, but seen stabilizing (MSNBC, 10/24)
With over 3,000 infected and 250 dead, Haiti's cholera outbreak has already taken its toll. However, a reduction in new cases arriving at clinics today makes aid workers hope the spreading of the disease has stopped.
"'We have registered a diminishing in numbers of deaths and of hospitalized people in the most critical areas ... The tendency is that it is stabilizing, without being able to say that we have reached a peak,' Gabriel Thimote, director-general of Haiti's Health Department, told a news conference."
___
10/27
Cholera death toll nears 300 in Haiti (CNN, 10/27/2010)
As of 10/27, there are 292 confirmed dead, and 4.1.47 infected with the deadly disease. Thankfully, early detection and a quick response have kept it from reaching the crowded capital.
___
11/17
I was hoping to wait until the cholera had been eradicated to post on this thread again. Unfortunately, that is taking much longer than I had hoped, and further developments require mentioning. With more than 1,000 dead from the outbreak, Haitians are obviously angry. They want to know how their already ravaged communities could be be so terribly devastated by disease. But those resorting to violence are not helping the situation.
This line from today's CNN article on the topic really irked me:
"The United Nations has appealed to international donors for $164 million in aid."
Why not appeal to all of the NGO's that collected donations after the earthquake, and who are now sitting on billions of unspent dollars? In a country that seems as backwards as Haiti, that would make too much sense, I guess.
___
11/18
The violence in Cap Haitian is out of control. Christian aid groups and U.N. workers are being attacked, roads out to the Dominican Republic blocked, and, transportation officials trying to help missionaries escape targeted for beatings. Read this article. Nothing I write can possibly be as heartbreaking as the story itself.
___
11/19
Underneath Haiti, Another Big Quake Waiting to Occur (TIME Magazine, by Tim Padgett, 11/19/2010)
With the cholera outbreak still out of control, the above linked article is even harder to read without becoming emotionally distraught. How can one place on this huge earth be plagued by so much hardship? Apparently, initial estimations by geologists were correct in assuming a new fault was involved in January's quake. Now this new fault has a name, and advances in geo-mapping have shown that it lies parallel to the major fault line known since the quake of 1751. Geologist's are afraid that, because the old fault line did not loose it's stored energy, it is still revved up and ready to rock Port-au-Prince. But what good does this knowledge do a nation still ravaged by the last quake, and now facing rising death tolls from a completely preventable, and treatable disease?
___
11/25
Spreading cholera has claimed at least 1,415 lives in Haiti (CNN, 11/24/2010)
Since last time I updated this post on the cholera situation, the number of people infected with the disease has sky-rocketed to 60,000. The above linked article offers little hope that the situation will be improving anytime soon.
___
3/15
Haiti: Not for Amateurs (The Nation, by Amy Wilentz, February 14, 2011)
As I read the depressing update regarding Haiti provided by the article in The Nation mentioned above, I was sadly not surprised. However, I did learn a couple of specific facts that I had not found anywhere else:
"On election day in November, only 22.3 percent of Haiti's eligible voters cast their ballots ....The reason for the low turnout was apathy, coupled with the catastrophic loss of identity papers in the earthquake of 2010." (p. 6)
I had read about the postponement of a run-off election that was suppose to occur on January 16, but for some reason had not realized that this was the exact day Duvalier returned, "smiling and waving from a hotel balcony like the queen of England." (p.6)
Regarding the slow rate of progress following the earthquake, I learned that the NGO's themselves are partly to blame. "Haiti is thought of as a training ground for young people getting their first taste of development and foreign aid work, as if the plight of the Haitian people were just an interesting test case -- a neat, accessible database for some cool experimentation." (p. 8)
The UN isn't helping matters either. "Unfortunately for Haiti, the UN's mandate is only to stabilize, not to improve, so it's just a repressive force. With their millions of dollars, the troops have built nothing for the people under their control --only UN bases, UN commissaries, UN restaurants, UN grocery stores, UN landing pads, etc." Apparently, the UN, through all of its experiences around the world, has never learned that improving people's lives leads to a decreased need for outside stabilization and control.
No comments:
Post a Comment