iol.co.za: Haiti’s senate has opened an investigation into President Michel Martelly’s nationality after a member of parliament accused him of holding US and Italian citizenship, a lawmaker said Friday.
Senator Steven Benoit said the senate investigating committee would probe 39 members of Martelly’s government, in response to the charges by Senator Moise Jean-Charles, a fierce opponent of the president.
“The member of parliament has filed documents supporting the accusations,” said Benoit. “We are investigating 39 personalities in power – the president, the prime minister, 18 ministers and 19 secretaries of state.”
Prime Minister Garry Connille rejected the accusations, saying, “I am Haitian and I have never renounced my nationality.”
The senatorial commission, of which Benoit is a member, is going through the archives of Haiti’s immigration services as part of its investigation, and has written the US embassy and Italian consulate for information.
“We are taking this matter very seriously. If we determine that the accusations are well founded, the persons involved must resign. If they are not true, sanctions will be meted out against those who made the accusations,” Benoit said.
Martelly, 51, a popular singer-turned politician, won the presidency in a landslide election in March 2011 and took office in May, promising to turn around a country struggling to recover from a catastrophic earthquake in January 2010. – Sapa-AFP
As stated earlier, if Mr Martelly is holding another nationality besides his Haitian one, he must be out. That’s the law!
However, I strongly suggest, in that case to keep in place the good aspects of his policy and most of his Ministers who so far have performed. We would need that continuity.
Who are these people that write a bogus constitution denying a significant portion of Haitian people their god given right to fully participate in the political and economic life of their motherland.
Who are these people that Hate THE Emperor Jean Jacques Dessalines so much that they have written bogus laws that are contrary to the Haitian revolutionaries that shed their blood for this country. What kind of people accept such a constitution.
I am a naturalized Us citizen, I am a descendant of one the generals that shed his blood for Haiti, I will enter public life in Haiti in the nest decade. I reserve all right given to me by God and my hero ancestors that bled for me
Edju- Now that is a comment filled with pride. Nice to see. Pride and strength are things that the diaspora can bring back here to help bring our nation to the heights that it deserves.