Haitian President Michel Martelly (r) during an interview at VOA headquarters in Washington, Feb 7, 2014.
February 07, 2014
In an interview Friday at VOA headquarters in Washington, Martelly acknowledged that the reason for distributing money mainly through NGOs has been “corruption” in Haiti and “lack of confidence in the Haitian system.” But he said that was changing.
“Today, that there is a new dynamic, today that there is a new leadership, today that we are engaged in reinforcing the democratic process, reinforcing the judiciary power, reinforcing our police force, and of course, allowing the ULCC, which is the unit that fights corruption, to do its work, I believe they should give us a chance to control Haiti, spend that money the way we feel, or we think we have to do it,” he said.
Four years after Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake, complaints remain about the slow pace of reconstruction efforts. And questions have been raised about where all the billions of dollars in pledged aid money have gone.
Martelly told VOA’s Creole Service he wished Haiti had gotten all the aid, but that not having all that was promised made his government more engaged in doing things on its own. He called the “capacity to do it ourself” a new mentality Haiti needed to develop.
Martelly was in Washington for the National Prayer Breakfast Thursday. After the event, he met with President Barack Obama at the White House.
The Haitian leader told VOA the “greatest thing” is that President Obama has reaffirmed his “willingness to stand by the Haitian people.”
The January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti killed hundreds of thousands of people and left more than a million homeless.
Some 150,000 people are still living in tent cities.
There is/was a reason that money goes to ONGs and not the GOH. This was initiated in the Duvalier period when some $40,000,000 of Canadian government funds was gobbled up by a few Duvalier cabinet members.
The situation now, has not really changed except for the fact that some ONGs are gobbling up the cash.
At the moment, the Embassy is investigating the disappearance of millions in educational funding that has disappeared down a hole in the Primature, allegedly coordinated by one of the Lamothe American imports, Allison.
There is a scramble to justify the dollars, by creating smoke and mirrors. An expensive consulting firm has been retained. But, some suggest over 1000 have been drinking from the education funding. One gulp took $30,000,000 some say.
And then there is the percentage taken from all money transfers.
Time for Martelly to gain control of his team so he can keep his promises recently made in Washington.