A legislative dictatorship or a lack of negotiation ?

In an interview with a a journalist of Radio Canada, the President Martelly had declared “…and today, we see that we are experiencing simply a legislative dictatorship”, statements which have made react several parliamentarians, according to them there is no legislative dictatorship but rather a lack of negotiations.

William Jeanty Senator of Nippes estimates that Martelly is the main responsible of the situation, hor him the problem is not at the level of the parliament “…think that the President is more responsible than anyone of the current situation of the country, he is supposed to know the mindset of the political class, he knows who are the people who are in parliament, he knows what to do to break the deadlock, if now he seeks an evasion or something else to explain the status quo, I think that is unfortunate…”

For Guy Gérard Georges, deputy of Torbeck/Chantal, what the parliament makes is not a dictatorship, he rather encourages Mr. Martelly to find a majority like the previous Presidents “…when Mr. Aristide was President he had a parliamentary majority to his cause, he did vote what he wanted. When Mr. Preval became President he did not have the majority but sought to create it […] today with Michel Martelly I think that the teaching of democracy is more direct. For example, the President may wish that we go to point A, but after analysis, the parliamentarians found that point A is bad, in this case we do not say that we are not going to move, we say that we shall not go by the point A but rather by the point B, it is not a parliamentary dictatorship…”

For Andris Riche, Senator of the Grand Anse, Mr. Martelly has an inability to negotiate, and for him the only way to make approve a policy is the negociation “when he says for example that we are moving towards a dictatorship, that prove rather the inability of the President and of his team to negotiates, that is to say that the President came to power with both hands empty […] he knew before he became president that there had a parliament and that he had no one in Parliament, and if he wanted to make approve his policy, normally he should negotiate with all bodies and groups in the parliament to secure a majority…”

The Senator of the Artibonite, François Anik Joseph critical the tatements of the president who, according to him, are a national disgrace. He believes that the President should make a public apology for this affront to the legislature, describing the words of the Head of State “of joke” and “of absurdity.”

For the Senator of North, Jean-Charles Moïse, the president feels uncomfortable in a system that requires the understanding and dialogue between the different powers and dreams of a situation where he could be the one to decide the fate of the population. According to him the President has never believed in democracy.

For their part the Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organizations (POHDH) and the National Network for the Defence of Human Rights (RNDDH) warn that all beginning of dictatorship based on attacks against the constitution, would be the root of all our ills.