Haiti’s senate Tuesday confirmed Dr. Garry Conille, a senior U.N. development specialist and former aide to former President Bill Clinton as prime minister, ending nearly five months of political limbo in the quake-ravaged country.
Senators voted 17-3, with 9 abstentions, to approve Conille, who had won unanimous support in the lower house of deputies last month. Tuesday’s vote came after more than eight hours of debate on the Senate floor with opponents arguing Conille did not meet the constitutional requirement for the job because he lacked an electoral card and had not lived in Haiti during the past five years. The days leading up to the vote were filled with confusion and difficult negotiations with President Michel Martelly’s advisors that ended with some senators loyal to former President René Préval, opting against taking posts in the new government.
Conille, 45, is a gynecologist who most recently served as resident and humanitarian coordinator in Niger for the United Nations Development Program. Prior to that, he was on special assignment, serving as chief of staff to Clinton in his role as the Special U.N. Envoy for Haiti. Conille has also served as an adjunct research scientist on community healthcare at Columbia University Earth Institute. He also holds a master’s in health policy and health administration from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He now must present his government and political program before assuming the job officially.
Conille said he hopes to use his development experience to help Haiti, a country with some of the worst development indicators in the hemisphere.
“I want to get everybody excited about what Haiti could be,’’ he told The Miami Herald in an interview before Tuesday’s vote. “We’ve spent 20 years concentrating on our difference. If I could get everybody excited about what Haiti could be, and I can get Michel to be the communicator and chief of what Haiti could be in a more structured and organized way, get the private sector excited, the population excited, get the civil society excited … I think we can pull this off.’’
And while some are hopeful his confirmation will finally put Haiti back on the path to reconstruction nearly 21 months after the devastating January 2010 earthquake, others, including some who supported him, have grown disillusioned.
“I don’t think he will bring anything to the country,’’ Sen. Simon Desras, who voted for Conille, told The Miami Herald. “I believe, instead, that this vote will lead to a crisis because I don’t see Martelly and Conille ever getting along.”
The fact the new Prime Minister is a gynecologist will help when Bill Clinton screws Haiti yet again. When does this become rape?
Well spoken and stated. Have the Haitians seen any evidence of help or spport for the poorest of Haiti.Clinton and the UN have no desire to improve the living conditions of the Haitians. They continue to raise up sweat shops, and call that improvement.Cheap labor, and ship products back to America, so Clintons fat cats can sell them, and rake in the profit. Disgusting. Humans are suffering without shelter, food, medical attention, or human needs. and these fools are making a profit off their misery. Where is the millions of dollars missing from Clinton Bush Fund? How many people have they employed, and what is their pay scale? This is a disgrace when Toussaint Louverture was murdered on June12th, a man trying to introduce a progran kay pam to loan money to the poor to build homes.I wonder what this is all about? Who would profit from this act.Haiti needs an honest man in that country, not corrupt useless leaders.