Community

Haiti: Human Rights Groups Call for Audit of President's Education Fund

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (defend.ht) – Socio-political organizations have urged Haitian leaders to take the legality and management of the President’s National Fund for Education (FNE) seriously. The National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH) urge Digicel and other carriers to take inconsistencies in the program seriously.

Organizations are responding to a statement made by Senator Jocelerme Privert (Nippes/Inite) who is the Chairman of the Senate Economy and Finance Committee who discovered $26 million [US] to be unaccounted for in the President's National Fund for Education.

This prompted Digicel CEO Denis O'Brien to call for an audit during an interview with the New York Times, published January 6th.

Reporter Jean Thony
01.10.12 | Vision 2000

Pierre Esperance, the Director of RNDDH, spoke to a journalist from Vision 2000 Radio:

”We must all know is that Digicel is a company that financed the campaign of President Martelly, the way we understand things. The PDG (CEO of Digicel) is close to the power in place here.”

”How the Digicel CEO says there is $26 million [US] that has gone unaccounted, well then we hope that the authorities from the level of the state, the Central Bank, the Minister of Finance, and the Minister of National Education will give a clear explanation on these revelations or on these accusations…”

The Director General of the Directorate of Social Service, Professor Rony Deroches, recalled that there must be a legal framework and management with the FNE:

”What we have at this moment is a public fund that is being management and there are two things that are absolutely indefensible.”

”Firstly, these funds should have a framework that is legal. Unfortunately, the National Fund for Education is so far not legal. There must be a law that creates this fund.”

”Secondly, there must be a system of control. The only way for it to have a system of control it must be that this fund enters into the national budget, and at that point there will be other points of control that must be done…”

The National Coordinator of Haitian Citizens when in the same direction as Deroches:

”This is a fund for education. It is something of public interest…”

”The state needs a lot of money to do this… construct public schools, there must be research big things and big folders…”

”But what we say is the fashion that it was instituted was not correct. This could allow all types of mess to happen with it…”

The Director General of RNDDH has asked the Unit Fighting Against Corruption (ULCC) and other actors do their responsibility without constraint or partiality:

”At this moment an audit should be established. So that if there is money that has become unaccounted, or taken crooked paths, we must determine the responsible, who went into this fund what was it for and did they receive an order to return it…. And at this moment the law provides what steps should be taken.”

Book reviews

Haiti Noir

Book Review

The anthology edited by Edwidge Danticat puts a uniquely Haitian spin on the crime genre

"Danticat has succeeded in assembling a group portrait of Haitian culture and resilience that is cause for celebration." - Publishers Weekly