Lined up on a podium, right hand raised in unison, the nine members of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council took their oath of office on Thursday, April 25, outside the Palais National d’Haïti in Port-au-Prince. “I swear, before God and the nation, to faithfully observe and ensure the observance of the Constitution and the laws of the Republic, and to respect and ensure respect for the rights of the Haitian people,” read the eight men and one woman appointed to the body, whose creation was decided on March 11 in order to resolve the political and security crisis that has been worsening for several years in the Caribbean country.
The ceremony formalizing this moment, awaited for six weeks, took place “on the sly,” according to the daily Le Nouvelliste, which added that the seven full members – representing the country’s main political forces and the private sector – and the two non-voting observers, were inducted early, “in front of a small audience,” made up of a few dozen dignitaries.
Due to the increasing number of atrocities perpetrated by groups of heavily armed bandits sowing chaos in the Haitian capital in recent months, the organization of this highly symbolic event was the subject of many questions. “Long before the council was installed, there had been discussions around security issues, the physical integrity of council members and the reaction of the gangs that control much of Port-au-Prince,” said Widlore Mérancourt, editor-in-chief of the independent news site AyiboPost. In the end, no incidents disrupted the ceremony, which continued, more lavishly, in another official government building, recently renovated and located in a safer part of the capital.
‘Challenges’
The day was also marked by the announcement of the effective resignation of Ariel Henry, the unpopular outgoing prime minister, who had already announced on March 11 his intention to step down after the installation of the transitional governing body that was to succeed him. “We have served the nation in difficult times. I thank all those who had the courage with me to face such challenges,” wrote the resigning leader in a letter dated April 24 and circulated the following day.
Highly contested from the moment he came to power, after the assassination of the head of state, Jovenel Moïse, in July 2021, Henry eventually gave in to calls for his resignation, which multiplied in February, and to the violence that escalated in the country while he was on an official trip to Kenya.
While waiting for the Transitional Presidential Council to set up a government, Michel Patrick Boisvert, minister of economy and finance in the outgoing cabinet, has been appointed interim head of government to expedite current affairs. “In practice, he had been acting as Prime Minister since Ariel Henry was prevented from returning to Haiti at the end of February, due to gang action,” said Mérancourt.
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