Between Power Struggles and Ego Conflicts: The CPT at the Heart of Controversies

This week, the Transitional Presidential Council is facing strong criticism and finds itself at the heart of various controversies, highlighting power struggles and egocentric conflicts among its members. Recently, a journalist from another media outlet revealed that this body, composed of only nine members, was divided into four groups, each defending its own interests. A little later, far from silencing the rumors, the CPT coordinator, Fritz Alphonse Jean, admitted in the columns of Le Nouvelliste that he had not organized a Council of Ministers to prevent some of his peers from finding a way to make appointments with which he himself would disagree. He took the opportunity to accuse the Minister of Foreign Affairs of not respecting his recommendations by appointing, within Haitian diplomacy, individuals, some of whom are reportedly close to Smith Augustin, Louis Gérald Gilles, or even Prime Minister Alix Didier-Fils Aimé. In response to these accusations, exercising his right of reply to Le Nouvelliste, Smith Augustin replied to his colleague by stating: « It would be easy to make denunciations, but leadership consists of providing solutions », thus criticizing the lack of leadership of counselor Fritz Jean at the head of the CPT. These sharp exchanges between Fritz Alphonse Jean and Smith Augustin seem to confirm rumors about the deep internal divisions undermining the Transitional Presidential Council. Le Relief was interested in this conflict brought to light and conducted a small investigation. Contacted by our editorial team and wishing to remain anonymous, a source close to the CPT admits: « Between the members of the CPT, relations are cordial, even if they are not always sincere. Internal cohesion is quite precarious. » This source criticizes Fritz Jean's attitude who, by temperament, she says, « has cultivated, since his arrival at the head of the Council on March 7, an authoritarian individualism that hinders the CPT's progress, further weakens it, and compromises the collective learning of the democratic exercise of collegial power. » Still according to our source, the current CPT coordinator « attempts to monopolize executive decisions to protect certain close associates whom he himself allegedly placed in key positions within the State ». This would be the main reason why he does not want to organize a Council of Ministers. While the country is slowly collapsing under the weight of gangs and misery, the CPT seems to be bogged down in sterile power struggles, to the detriment of a much-anticipated institutional resurgence. By Gesly Sinvilier