30237: Du Tuyau: Re: Amendment of Haitian Constitution (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: viandemoulue@aol.com

Someone forwarded to me an overview of the amendments suggested for the 1987 
(current) Haitian Constitution.

There are many issues in them that can be tackled/debated, etc. It seems to me 
that it is indeed a working document, and that further changes may be accepted, 
inserted, etc, in it. One that caught my attention particularly is the passage 
that will directly effect the Haitian Diaspora. This is the original French, 
copied and pasted here:

Pour être élu député, sénateur, président de la République, il maintient 
l’exigence d’être « haïtien d’origine et n’avoir jamais renoncé à 
sa nationalité ». Pour être nommé Premier ministre, il faut « être 
haïtien d’origine ».

Two issues from this statement caught my attention:

Issue 1-This text suggests that your mom and dad have to have been Haitian born 
and raised, if you wish to have the chance to fully partake in the political 
process.

Well, if the US for instance adhered to such principle, Henri Kissinger would 
have never been one of the best US Secretary of States ever; Zbigniew Brezinski 
would have never been a great US National Security Adviser under Carter; 
three-time Greece Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou would have never 
participated in his country's political process. I could go on and on with 
examples throughout the world, about this issue.

Issue 2- Haitians in the Diaspora are still not being given full opportunity to 
partake in the country's political process, despite the fact that our human 
capital has fled the homeland mostly for economic and political reasons.

This, to me, makes no sense from a pragmatic standpoint. How is it that to be a 
deputy, a Senator, and so forth, one has to never have taken a foreign 
nationality when Haiti was not giving most of our "human capital" the 
opportunity to live a decent life? I hope that those of us with access to those 
in power in Haiti will debate this issue with the political elite back home. 
This makes no sense, none whatsoever.

This is bad stuff, as I can see it. This is not personal by the way, because I 
would not have that problem if I ever were to run for any political position in 
Haiti. I still hold Haitian citizenship, despite the fact that it will greatly 
advantage me economically if I adopt another citizenship.

I just think that it's an issue we have to tackle as quickly as possible, 
because there is at least a lot of hypocrisy there.

It's funny how we do these things. When we don't want Charles Baker to run for 
president, or Boulos to participate in anti-Aristide campaigns, we say they're 
not Haitians. When we don't want Yvon Neptune to be Haiti Prime Minister, we 
call him "American" and even post his supposedly US Passport number on the 
Corbett list among other places. Never mind that afterwards, we will jail 
Neptune as a "Haitian genocider" (Reference: RNDDH's genocidal rants).

Both sides are playing politics with the country's developmental process. It's 
time for the Diaspora to claim rightfully its role in the country's future. 
That inclusion must be done in a careful and systemic way, for it will benefit 
everyone, every single one of us whether inside or outside the country.

If we can be a Welfare Agency by sending 1.65 billion US dollars to Haiti last 
year, we can most certainly help in every way, in the developmental process, 
directly and indirectly. We didn't adopt Canadian, or Bahamaian, German, or 
French citizenship because we hate Haiti. In most cases, we did it because we 
cared about folks back home whom we had to find a way to help, oftentimes by 
filing for them so they can come and live with us quickly. Basic reason: 
economics and political repression.

That's just unfair, I think, what those guys are trying to do. It's unfair to 
them, as it is unfair to us in the Diaspora community.

Those of you with access to the Preval Administration and the Haitian 
Parliament need to get yourselves heard this time. Otherwise, we should be 
called "pópóy".

Du Tuyau moun fou
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