(CMC, 19.Sep.2018) — President Jovenel Moise has called on newly installed Prime Minister Jean-Henry Céant to ensure that there’s total transparency in the investigation regarding the use of funds under the PetroCaribe initiative.
“As I explained in my message of Prime Minister Jean Henry- Céant (and) to the nation, and included in the statement of the general policy statement presented to Parliament, Prime Minister Céant must allow the nation to see clearly what has happened in the use of PetroCaribe funds,” Moise said during the inauguration of the new prime minister and his cabinet on Monday.
“The people are asking for explanations on the use of this money. The competent services of the State, notably the Central Financial Intelligence Unit, the Anti-Corruption Unit, the General Inspectorate of Finance will be mobilised on the PetroCaribe file.
“Besides the work of the Court of Auditors and Administrative Litigation, it is up to these technical services of the State to provide answers to the request for explanation of the population,” Moise said.
He said institutionally, the State must provide answers to the PetroCaribe file, adding “I ask people to remain calm and wait for the results of the work of the relevant institutions.
“We must avoid making amalgams so that honest citizens are not victims or unjustly indexed in the PetroCaribe file. The State is there to guarantee everyone the right to life and honour. This is why, at the institutional level, the State must treat the PetroCaribe dossier with the necessary rigour and give explanations to the citizens,” Moise said.
Concerns as to how the PetroCaribe funds have been used by previous governments have resulted in Haitians taking to the streets in protest at the billions of US dollars that have been allegedly squandered from the Venezuela oil programme.
Haitians have launched the “#petrocaribechallenge” campaign that has already resulted in the removal of the previous government headed by Jack Guy Lafontant.
Following Haiti’s 2010 earthquake, Caracas forgave US$295 million in debt that Port-au-Prince had accumulated since joining the PetroCaribe programme in 2006. However, since the quake the debt has ballooned.
PetroCaribe is an oil alliance of many Caribbean states with Venezuela to purchase oil on conditions of preferential payment. The alliance was launched in 2005 and in 2013 Petrocaribe agreed to links with the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, to go beyond oil and promote economic cooperation.
A Haitian Senate Commission investigative report last year alleges a significant amount of money had been embezzled under the programme.
In his address, Moise said that in search of a better being, the Haitian people demand more justice.
“More social justice, more economic justice, more transparency and rigour in the management of public funds. The Haitian youth wants to recover faith, confidence in the future. Accountability must now be a principle that cannot suffer from any derogation. There can be no excuses, no extenuating circumstances for those who have mismanaged state resources.”
He warned that no development is possible without justice, and that the greatness of a nation depends on the quality of justice.
“Justice must act independently. I ask your government to facilitate a fair and equitable distribution of justice.”
Moise said that Haiti “has everything it needs to live up to the glorious history forged by the heroes of 1804” and that by taking the right steps, “we can sustainably and positively change the living conditions of the population”.
He told the new government it must succeed in a number of areas including signing a pact with the private sector to promote jobs and growth, a sustainable solution to the minimum wage issue, as well as enabling the country to have universal and compulsory medical insurance.
Moise said there was also need to accelerate ongoing work in the field of infrastructure as well as to find the appropriate financial mechanism for the construction of the missing classrooms, so that all school-aged children attend school in good conditions and remain there.
He also called on the new government to supervise and continue the work undertaken in the framework of the reform of the State and strictly apply the decree on the reduction of the lifestyle of the State, take appropriate measures to resolve social crises in neighbourhoods and improve the working conditions of the security forces and ensure that the new army under construction is mobilized in the vast site of environmental rehabilitation.
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