Signatories to the Montana accord have agreed on a plan to get the country out of the impasse. Prime Minister Ariel Henry and Magali Comeau Denis, one of the leaders of the Montana Accord, met again on Sunday May 15 in an attempt to broker a political solution to resolve the current crisis. As during the first meeting held on Wednesday May 11, Ms. Denis received Ariel Henry at her home for one-on-one discussions. A document containing the terms of the negotiation process has been submitted to the head of government and the Montana team is giving itself 15 days to reach an agreement with the Prime Minister. According to Jacques Ted St-Dic, this second meeting is expected to make it possible to reach further agreement on basic terms for negotiations. Mr. St Dic stated on Monday (May 16) on Radio Magik 9, that Ms. Denis had submitted a negotiation protocol to Prime Minister Ariel Henry for confirmation or to make changes. The protocol deals with issues necessary to facilitate dialogue, such as: the duration, the place, the agenda of the negotiations, and who will take part in the negotiations among others. According to the group, there will not be another meeting on the matter and a timetable and venue for the negotiations will be provided, with the costs borne by both parties. With regards to the environment conducive to dialogue, the Montana group representative indicated that during the negotiations the government will not be able to modify the structures of the State such as the Court of Cassation, the formation of the Provisional Electoral Council, and the Constituent Assembly. They also require a minimum of security in the area where the negotiations will be held, and they have given themselves 15 days to reach an agreement with the Prime Minister.

In an editorial by Le Nouvelliste, the newspaper castigated the lack of political will on the part of all actors to resolve the various crises facing the nation. The editorial entitled “ Not Surprisingly, no one is still looking for the way out of the crisis in Haiti”, the newspaper documented events that should have occurred at specific intervals in the history of the country; the elections to renew the Chamber of Deputies should have been held in 2019, and since January 2016, the entire political class has known that on January 13, 2020 the term of the 50th legislature was coming to an end, but each actor, for reasons best known to them, and without any surprise, worked hard to insure that elections would not take place. For the opposition, it was “No elections with Jovenel, he is not legitimate”; for the sitting government, “Let’s wait for the departure of all the elected officials to change the Constitution”. The absence of deputies was the first big step on the way to the disappearance of the institutions of representative democracy in Haiti. Neither the incumbents nor the opponents campaigned for the rapid organization of a vote, and the void created was conducive to both parties. And fast forward to May 2022, no one is talking about holding elections, while the Senate exists only on paper, and all the institutions whose legal existence is linked to the work of Parliament lack any legitimacy.

According to the paper, everyone holds de facto functions, and the current Prime Minister does not have a mandate to exercise any form of control over the current dysfunctional system. “Ariel has absolute power even if he does absolutely nothing with it”. Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, the Prime Minister, who was appointed by the assassinated president, has not taken an oath to respect the Constitution and the laws of the Republic, and unsurprisingly, the country trudges on, the government does what it does, insecurity increases, the state disappears and the population laments. To explain their incompetence vis-à-vis the current situation, our politicians on all sides, talk about the security situation every day. While the difficulties are real, no one recalls that the security situation was better in 2019 and that despite this, new round of elections were not on the agenda. Like today. if the majority of actors agree that before talking about elections, we need to improve security, no one is dedicated to the task. Since July 2021, the two prime ministers who have led the country have expressed only wishes and the opposition silent prayers. Haiti is sinking, caught in a spiral, a destructive centrifugal force that is getting stronger every day a little more. Meanwhile, unsurprisingly, no one, either in power or in the opposition, presents himself as wanting at all costs to find the way out of the crisis.

Dela Harlley