According to CANA, President Jovenel Moise has reiterated a call for Parliament to approve the nomination and government of newly appointed Prime Minister Fritz William Michel, saying Haitians expect a lot of its elected people.
Speaking on the side-lines of the graduation ceremony for the new commissioners at the Police Academy on Thursday, Moise said it was imperative that Michel, the fourth prime minister of this French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country, since 2017, be confirmed.
He said the new government needed to be in office so that it could face the challenges by unlocking the current situation in the country.
Michel, 38, a former executive in the Ministry of Economy and Finance, replaced Jean Michel Lapin, who had earlier announced that he was stepping down in the interest of the country. He has since named an 18-member Cabinet that is equally divided between men and women.
Moise said that the country has been without a cabinet for more than four months and as a result Haiti is without a ratified government or a national budget voted upon by the Parliament.
“Everyone is affected, both at the public sector and private because without government the country cannot function normally and the international community of cannot unblock the funds which Haiti needs so much,” he said.
Last week, Moise appealed to legislators to approve Michel saying he made the choice “together with the presidents of the two branches of Parliament to put an end to the political paralysis that harms the citizens of our country.
“The cabinet of Mr. Michel is representative and inclusive. It is time for the Parliament to approve the Government so that together we can meet the urgent needs of our society, in terms of food security, job creation, infrastructure, etc,” he added.
But the legislators remain divided on his appointment, with some insisting that President Moise should step down in the wake of allegations of embezzlement related to the PetroCaribe oil initiative with Venezuela and call fresh elections.
The opposition parties here have accused Moise of embezzlement, but the head of state has defended himself against the report of the Superior Court of Accounts and Administrative Litigation (CSA/CA) into programmes and projects funded by the PetroCaribe, an oil alliance of many Caribbean states with Venezuela to purchase oil on conditions of preferential payment.
Earlier this week, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Gary Bodeau, said a motion to indict President Mpoise for treason would be placed on the agenda ahead of the presentation of the general policy statement of Michel.
Political observers in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, say they don’t expect the motion, which had been submitted by 21 legislators last month, to find support in the lower house given the majority position enjoyed by legislators linked to President Moise’s party.
On Thursday, as he insisted that it was time to turn the page on Haiti’s political stalemate, Moise appealed to all stakeholders to form a “chain of solidarity” noting that dialogue remains the only possible way to find a solution and get the country out of the impasse.
“Since I became head of power, I have always preached union. I invited all sectors to unite …because how can we save the country if we do not communicate with one another,” he asked.