RANDOM THOUGHTS

General Misconceptions Among Haitians & About Haiti\

Misconception: There have to be roadways constructed in Haiti in order to jumpstart economic development..! Not true

Truth: To jumpstart economic development there has to be a plan to build up a communication infrastructure with the help of economic analysises and forecasts that take into account the necessity for job creation and responsible fiscal policies. A communication infrastructure comprises essentially two categories:

1) A transportation system: maritime ways (canals, ocean, rivers, ships and seaports), aerial ways (airports, aerodromes, helicopters and airplanes), terrestrial ways (railroads, roadways). In that regard, the coastal city of Jeremie can achieve economic growth without an expensive roadway connecting it to Port-au-Prince or even Les Cayes; what Jeremie needs for its economic growth is a good seaport and something to offer to the rest of the world, not necessarily a road linking it to Dame-Marie or any other cities for that matter. A road is just one kind of transportation system, it is neither the only one nor the most beneficial over the long term. In other words, a roadway that links Jeremie to Port-au-Prince or any other cities is not necessarily going to spur economic growth in Jeremie unless Jeremie has something to offer in return to Port-au-Prince and vice-versa.

2) A telecommunications system: A transportation system alone is not sufficient to jump start economic development because of all the technological advances the world has seen. A good telecommunication system is also an imperative. For instance, a banking institution headquartered in Port-au-Prince would be more inclined to open up a branch or several branches in the city of Jacmel if they can count on a reliable telecommunications system for their numerous lucrative electronic transactions.

Misconception: In order to attract foreign investments, Haiti has to become politically stable and safe…! Wrong

Truth: In order to attract foreign investments, Haiti has to educate itself not necessarily become politically stable and safe. Not to say Haiti being politically stable would hurt! The fundamental reason is that in our western capitalist society, economic decision such as investing in a foreign country is not based on one criterion such as political stability but rather on a set of multi-attribute analysis of all the advantages the foreign country has to offer. If Haiti manages to dramatically increase the number of skilled workers it has, Haiti will attract a variety of serious foreign investments, politically stable or not. Even if Haiti was to become politically stable in the eyes of the international community, it will never attract the kinds of foreign investments that may help it to prosper unless a good $ 40 millions is injected into the state university of Haiti.

Case in point of the three major wireless telephone investments that have occurred in Haiti in the past decade or so; Haitel, Comcel, and Digicel did take a good look at Haiti’s endemic political instability but the anticipated rate of return of their investments was so high that political instability could not deter them from investing in Haiti. The anticipated rate of return is one of the key attributes investors consider before financing a project.

 

Misconception: The Haitian police force is ill equipped to disband the armed groups and paramilitary forces…..Not entirely true.

Truth: Safety is a state of mind. Safety is not necessarily how well equipped the police force is but rather how trustworthy the police force is to the general Haitian population. I do not believe there is any country where the police force cannot provide security to the general population if there is a determination from the authorities to make the country safe. Certainly, it will take time and there will be casualties in the police ranks; but make no mistake about it, the Haitian police force can prevail.

Misconception: Haitian Economic Experts voice their opinions against budget deficit incurred by the state of Haiti…! Bad advice

Truth: Budget deficit is not a problem for any nation depending on how and where the money is spent by the government. Let’s say Haiti incurs an annual budget deficit of $ 80 millions US dollars (about 3 milliards de gourde). Let’s assume that those $80 millions are spent on erecting 8 amphitheaters – convention centers one in each of the major cities (Jeremie, Cayes, Cap-Haitien, Fort-Liberte, Port-de-Paix, Jacmel, Gonaives, and Hinche) for a price of $5 millions each. Let’s assume the other $40 millions are invested in building 8 Olympic gymnasiums and 8 public research libraries in each of the major cities for a price of $4 millions and $ 1 million respectively then that budget deficit is not a problem for Haiti. Oh no! Haiti will recover that money in twenty-five years or less with interests. More importantly, to reconcile with the other truths I described above, building those monuments is what is going to spur economic growth in those cities not necessarily inter-city roadways. Besides most of the construction materials would come from abroad anyway therefore the necessity of a good seaport rather than an expensive roadway. That is capital expenditures.

Misconception: Building a public school (lycee) in each locality is a beneficial national education plan for Haiti…! Not in the short term.

Truth: With the rural exodus that Haiti has been experiencing, it is hard to believe there is any one left in the rural localities. What Haiti really needs is a national education plan that is in tandem with a national economic development plan. Again, reconciling with the truths I described above, Haiti needs not to build a public school in each locality but rather use that money to quickly raise the level of expertise of the State University of Haiti and the size of it too so that the future graduates would have the skill level crucial in attracting foreign investments. Haiti is in needs of stable jobs. In order to create jobs, you need to encourage investments. In order to encourage investments, investors need to feel confident that the skilled work force that will help their investments be profitable does exists already in the country. That is why if there is any money to spend in education in Haiti, it must be allocated to the State University of Haiti and public vocational colleges throughout the country.

Misconception: Bois-Caiman is voodooesque ceremony…! Not true

Truth: Bois-Caiman ceremony is a political gathering, a meeting of the minds, and a get-together assembly of ancestors and maroon leaders to share knowledge, gather strength and come out with a consensus on which direction the liberation movement must take in French occupied Haiti of 1789. Can you actually believe there could have been only one Bois-Caiman meeting? Let’s take the Bois-Caiman ceremony as an example of union and cooperation between a common people enduring the same predicaments for so long. Let us unite, share our hopes and apprehensions and build a consensus for a better Haiti for all of us. Sorry to disagree to all voodoo Haitians. Haiti did not gain its independence because of our ancestors’ rites and traditional beliefs in their voodoo religion; Haiti spilled its blood for its freedom after reaching an historic compromise.

Misconception: Taking Jamaica or Dominican Republic as examples to compare Haiti to…! Not good.

Truth: Taking Jamaica or Dominican Republic as models to which to compare Haiti is not only misguided but rather foolish. Jamaica was a British condominium for the longest time until it gained autonomy in 1962 and Dominican Republic did not pay a dime to Haiti for its independence in 1844 like Haiti had to pay to France for its independence. Please find me a 205 year old slavery-emancipated independent black nation which has endured nearly 15 years of war and devastation in order to acquire its independence and was rewarded after 1804 with nearly 60 years of suffocating diplomatic embargo by the world powers then we can begin to compare it to Haiti. Until then, Haiti is unique.

Misconception: Let’s have an elite or a mulatto as head of state or president in Haiti if Haiti is to prosper…! Not a student of History

Truth: Let us elect a patriotic and nationalist well educated visionary as head of state then Haiti can hope for some prosperity. To all of my fellow Haitians that embrace the misconception above I say to you grab a pen or pencil and some paper and write down all the names of the presidents of Haiti that were mulatto over the past 205 years. Also write down next to their names the length of time they stayed in power and take the total. The total will be about 72 years all together. Now divide 72 by 205 and you will notice that the Haitian mulatto/elite has been in power directly nearly 40% of the time and when you consider the remaining 60% of the time that the black presidents were actually puppets most of the time at the merci of the mulatto elite, both intellectual and economic elite, you will quickly realize that it does not matter much if it is a black or a mulatto as president. The plight of Haitian people is never heard at the national palace for 205 years. Haiti needs a visionary first and a unifier second.

This plan is a framework pretty much just like all of the other documents I posted or published online. This plan contains two parts:

Provisional Electoral Commission Composition

Suggestions for a safer electoral process

1) Cost savings

2) Safer streets on election days

 

An election is a project. It is a complex project. It is also a special project because human lives and a nation’s future are at stake. It is a project that requires the charisma of high moral value citizen and the expertise of qualified strategic project managers.

In that regard, I strongly believe that the Provisional Electoral Commission should be made of the following experts:

Experts in strategic project management (at least 4 members of the 9 members)

Experts in Finance and Accounting (at least 2 members of the 9 members)

Expert in Logistics and Real Estate (at least 1 member of the 9 members)

Expert in Sociology and Public Relations (at least 1 member of the 9 members)

Expert in Public Safety (at least 1 member of the 9 members)

 

If you have several different problem areas to resolve and you have only one tool or means by which to try to resolve those problem areas, there is a theory that proves that it is more effective to resolve a little bit in each of the problem areas than to resolve everything in one particular problem area only and ignore all the other problem areas.

That theory is the basis for the following suggestions.

Taking into account the limited resources the PEC has, taking into account the limited amount of expertise the PEC has, taking into account the limited Haitian national police force and taking into account the reluctance of the international community to get involved, I propose elections to be held in a span of eight (8) days from a Sunday through the following Sunday. In other words, the election does not have to be held in one day nationwide. It can be held county by county or region by region.

Haiti is geographically subdivided into nine provincial counties (departments). The nine counties can be regionally juxtaposed the following way for the election:

{ Grand Anse & Sud } { Ouest & Sud-Est} {Centre & Artibonite} {Nord, Nord-Est & Nord-Ouest}

The table below summarizes the process.

The method above if adopted will provide two great advantages to the election process:

Operational cost savings

Increased Safety for the voters

 

The method above if adopted means that the PEC needs to hire and train much less personnel than their current method. The reason is that the same personnel used during election day (DAY#1) in juxtaposed county group { GRAND-ANSE & SUD} will be reused (redeployed to be exact) in county group { OUEST & SUD-EST} on election day (DAY#3). Fewer personnel always translate into decreased expenses.

When the news come out that the 2005 election in Haiti would cost $ 43 millions, some of us wanted to pull our hair out. Until today, I hardly believe the election should cost even $30 millions.

But more importantly for me is the fact that now the Haitian national police force only needs to concentrate its security forces in one area of the country at a time instead of having to provide security for the whole country like the PEC has it planned on October 19^th, 2005. The Haitian national police now has the opportunity to strategically place its elite forces on election day (DAY#1, 3, 5 & 7) in only the counties where voting would be scheduled to be held. I believe that temporary concentration of forces will put the Haitian police force at an advantage against any paramilitary forces that may intend to perturb the election.

I will conclude by saying that security or safety in a country is first of all a state of mind and second a matter of strategy rather than just the availability of resources for the police force. Technologies have played a significant role in helping the police forces everywhere bring an acceptable measure of safety to the general population, starting with the telegraph way back when, the telephone way back when and now GPS.

Thank you

BLOG SHORT ESSAYS POSTED ONLINE

1. ---------------------------------

Mr. Deslaurent. You started your essay with ad hominem comments toward my person therefore I am not dignifying you with a reply. Since this is an open forum, I will say this much. I am not interested in personal attacks; that won't get Haiti anywhere. History is not about ugliness or even beauty; history is about facts. Certainly there were events in Haitian history that most Haitians may not be proud of today. But sweeping certain historical events under the rug is not going to help one bit. We all need to study our history, analyze it, discuss it, and deduct conclusions. And that is the only way this current generation of Haitians can face its own demon and discover the true faces of Haiti's enemies.

I am fully aware of the life of Toussaint Louverture; no one said he was an angel but he's remembered for his legacy as a great leader and a visionary. To refute your argument that "Toussaint got what he deserved", Toussaint confided to American Ambassador Andrews that he will declare Haiti independent but he's waiting for the right moment, he's waiting for the French to make a mistake. The French mistake, as we all know, was the plan to reinstate slavery in all the French colonies. So Toussaint, in his great wisdom, calculated well; the people he massacred miscalculated.

You also said "Toussaint ordered Dessalines to massacre his own countrymen". This argument at the times of Toussaint is a moot point. There was no country of Haiti when Toussaint was alive so what you consider to be his countrymen were actually strangers to him. Haiti evolves almost as three separate nations up until the American occupation of 1915. When it comes to your mentioning of Toussaint's many illegitimate children, since I am not an anthropologist, I say Haiti is no stranger to concubinage and unfortunately it is a heritage that the Haitian men have kept from the elite all the way down to the poor. Yes, Petion did it as well as Jean-Pierre Boyer just like Dessalines did – practice polygamy.

"Illiterate Christophe" you said but I am very proud of him; I am not in the business of disrespecting my ancestors who sacrificed their lives to leave us liberty. Since the French never intended to show their black slaves how to read and write I certainly forgive Christophe for being an illiterate. This illiterate Christophe made the North progress economically and educationally. Although under tyrannical conditions I must admit, while the West and South under the mulatto’s rules were bathing into economic despair. Balthazar Inginac, a great mulatto man ,did what he could to wave off corruption in the government but the forefather mulatto Alexander Petion boasted " All men are thieves".

I welcome opposing views but I will put forward a firm argument. That's what you call a debate. It is my prerogative as a fellow Haitian to convince my fellow brothers and sisters this is the direction we should go.

Let us spill the beans; let us put all of Haitian history out there and something wonderful will happen among the people: we will all begin to agree with one another.

"Whoever ignores history is doomed to repeat it" are the words of a wise man.

It's not about what degree you have; it's about what have done lately for Haiti

It's not about what language you speak; it's about how you communicate to a fellow Haitian

It's not about the success of the elite; it's about what is their legacy

It's not about being illiterate; it's about what is your contribution to Haiti

It's not about the grade level of the people; it's about higher aspiration

It's not about you; it's about Haiti's future

Mr. Laurent welcome to the revolution

Thanks

2.------------------------------

 

Hi, Lionne, mulattos or biracial offspring’s are just Homo sapiens species just like their parents with a combination of features from both at different proportions.

Curiously, in the video they only show the pretty, sexy, & slender biracial ones! I guess it's all about hype and image! It's never about the whole truth nothing but the truth anymore.

To begin with, there is no race on the face of this earthly planet; race is a political invention- there is no biological basis for race.

Stop using the word "race".

Certainly, Haiti being a former French colony, being that the Frenchmen enjoyed raping the big-booty Dahomey black women, we ended up with a distinctive group people whose shades of skin complexion range from sacatra to griffe to marabou to quarteron to metis and so forth...

Being that the French had their Code Noir classification policies in effect during colonization, and considering that the French fathers recognized most mulattos as their legitimate children and educated nearly half of them, the mulattos have become indeed an ethnic group within Haiti thru no fault of their own. So far so good.

The issue, however, for the black majority is the treachery of this new mulatto group, their lack of commitment overall toward the betterment of Haiti.

Before being a biracial mulatto, you are a Haitian.

The black majority is appalled at the idea the mulatto/elite seems to have it backward and therefore have betrayed the ideals of the 1804 revolution.

23 educated mulattos signed the declaration of independence "to renounce forever to France or die". Well, apparently they never did.

Guess who made contact with the French general Ferrand in late 1806 across the border, consequently violating the declaration of independence: Petion, Gerin, Boyer, Ardouin all mulatto rulers of the West and South, ready to toss up the liberty earned at a terrible cost of dark skin black lives instead of compromising with Henry Christophe.

In truth, the elite, mostly mulatto, never lived up to the ideals of the independence they helped achieved.

In 1843 after 37 years of mulatto rule, Haiti has nothing planned for the posterity, absolutely nothing but a huge debt menacing the country's future.

The hard reality is that not all biracial brown Haitian people are educated and wealthy and not all the Haitian members of the elite are brown either.

But more importantly, the statistics on the current Haitian population of 95% direct African descendent and 5% mulattos mixed blood are seriously inaccurate and even misleading.

The problem is that the foreign statisticians researched Port-au-Prince, Petionville and CapHaitien, took a sample of the population there and deducted a conclusion, ignoring the deep mountain population where whole communal sections are populated with nothing but Haitians of mixed ancestry.

The German settlers of Bombardopolis mixed with the general population; polish soldiers became Haitian citizen as of the 1805 Constitution (article 13) although most went back to Europe ECT...

I don’t care if you are brown or black.

or polka dot Haitian; all I care about is your patriotism or lack thereof!

Welcome to the revolution
" An army can be resisted by not an idea whose time has come"
thanks

Preval Blog

Dessalines, we both cherish our beloved Haiti but we must set the record straight for the sake of historical accuracy. Papa Doc was a noirist like Dumarsais Estime. I doubt very much he was a qualified president but I believe he was a shrewd politician. He understood early on that the army was a threat to his presidency although the army paved the way for him to gain the presidency to begin with.

1. The exchange rate of 5 gourdes for 1 US dollar under Duvalier has nothing to do with Duvalier himself; the exchange rate was fixed by the Americans during the occupation in 1919 in order to determine how much money to loan Haiti to pay off French debts, and other claims against the Haitian government.

2. If we had electricity 24/7 in parts of Port-au-Prince ( the province being always ignored by the executive, always), we must thank president Magloire who had the vision for the Peligre Dam to irrigate the Artibonite Valley since early 1950's.

3. Ciment d'Haiti, a French investment and Minoterie opened up under Magloire as his administration tried in vain to attract significant foreign investments to Haiti.

4. HASCO (Haitian American Sugar Company) has nothing to do with Duvalier; HASCO is a spin-off of the National Railroad Company that never was - start date/year 1911

5. Certainly, Port-au-Prince is buried under its own garbage nowawadays. I grew up in the metropolitan area and it was not as bad as it is today but most Haitians never saw all of Port-au-Prince and its surrounding shanty towns: Pelerin, Sans Fil, St. Martin were always as bad under Duvalier as they are today. Besides, the Port-au-Prince service d'hygiene was instituted by President Sudre Dartiguenave under the auspice of the American occupant.

You cannot do comparison across historical time and space. You can only do parallel between different administrations/regimes. Haiti is in a perpetual decline. It was declining under Duvalier as well as presently; it's just that the rate of decline nowadays is steeper. It's in freefall basically.

Haiti was not stable under any government or presidency in the past since all Haitian presidents usurped power from the regime before it except Aristide, Boisrond Canal, and Dessalines. Even under American occupation, Haiti was a dictartorship, functioning without a parliament, just a state council.

What we need to do is to embrace our own history, face our demons, dissipate the clouds of confusion, forgive and forget, debate Haiti's future and devise a national economy advancement plan that suits the majority of Haitians.

Thanks

Almost 85% of Greg Peters' ideas are not scientific. Did you read through all of it? Public education including higher education is free in Haiti since Dessalines - Peters said College education should be free in Haiti, it already is. Has he read the Haitian constitutions, new and old ones?

Peters suggested the seaports should be duty free; the seaports are already duty free if you can prove the goods and machinery you are importing is going to help create jobs inside Haiti, yes that's true don’t believe me ask the Commerce Ministry in Haiti.

Deforestation in Haiti started with the French settlers clearing the forest for the plantations. Deforestation worsened with the logging industry that lasted a good 170 years in Haiti. Yes, they cut down all the century old trees and export them to the Carolinas, England, Holland, and France. The Haitian peasants did not have the tools to cut down giant trees. I will post statistics on Haiti logwood exports soon. Certainly the increase in peasant and urban population put new pressure on Haiti forest but that's not the original cause of deforestation. Kidding me. Look back a few years and you will find out who really deforested Haiti.

Let the truth be spoken

Welcome to the revolution

 

 

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