Haiti: Political Stagnation

Empty words, hollow promises, aborted dialogues. For several months, Haitian political management has given the impression of a country stuck in an eternal provisional state. A people in a state of suspended animation, with a feverish heart and a consciousness frozen in a prolonged crisis. Nothing moves. Neither institutionally, nor in the configuration of power dynamics among the actors present. However, emergencies are accumulating: humanitarian crisis, widespread insecurity, collapse of public services… But on the political front, there is a deafening silence, bordering on contempt and indifference. «What does this inertia hide? And above all, what should we expect tomorrow?» A transition without a compass, no hope on the horizon The stakeholders who led to the formation of the CPT, supposed to embody a way out of the crisis, are operating at low capacity. They feel lost in the labyrinth of petty interests or corruption. They did not get lost along the way, as it seems there was never any question of making a path or reaching a goal. «They deliberately embarked us into the post-Jovenel era with our heads down, without setting any objectives,» one might say. Recent attempts at dialogue, initiated by CARICOM on behalf of the international community, are going in circles. Political actors are multiplying declarations, but no electoral calendar is set, no structuring consensus emerges, no viable program. No concrete action. Presidencies change but transform nothing The transition prolongs, changes leaders and teams but remains similar in every respect, without changing its tone. Worse, without foundation or commitment, it seems to have institutionalized itself in a vacuum, without a clear perspective, without a mandate defined by the people, projecting the nation towards the precipice. The country is as if in levitation, without electoral legitimacy or effective governance. A true political apnea with stagnation as its horizon. A power without a plan, a fictitious opposition without strategy The current government, led by Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, struggles to articulate a vision. Certainly, the security emergency dominates. But even on this front, the signals are weak: promises to fight gangs are slow to translate into concrete progress. The war budget fails to materialize to neutralize criminal gang leaders. No spectacular arrests, sporadic operations are botched, losses of valiant police officers and equipment are multiplying, while two key institutions in the fight against armed violence are in a standoff, further emboldening terrorist groups. Conversely, a fragmented and discredited political opposition awaits its turn to take power without proposing a credible alternative. It criticizes, but does not build. It demands, but no longer mobilizes. The streets, once a stage for popular demands, seem tired, drained of their capacity for pressure; they are above all disappointed. The unknown: the only certainty offered What will tomorrow bring? The question, as legitimate as it is, haunts the mind of every Haitian. Some hope for a diplomatic breakthrough or a civic awakening. Others, more fatalistic, fear an aggravation of the crisis, a new migratory wave, or worse, a total collapse of the State. The greatest danger today is habit. The habit of living in the abnormal, of settling for chaos, of no longer expecting a political solution, but only emergency aid, exile, or a miracle. Haiti cannot eternally survive without a compass or destination. Civil society, economic sectors, intellectuals, and young people must refuse this collective anesthesia. Political stagnation is not an inevitability. It can; it must; be broken by the urgent necessity of an awakening. The question is no longer just: what will tomorrow be made of? But rather: who will have the courage to change its course? Jean Mapou