The Draft Constitution, an Oligarchic Coup Against the People

The Transitional Presidential Council and the Fils-Aimé government have received the draft Constitution prepared by a working group, assisted by several experts whose names have not been made public. In doing so, they announced the holding of a constitutional referendum aimed at abolishing, once and for all, the current Constitution, adopted by the people 38 years ago.

This announcement is a disgrace! Who are these individuals orchestrating this sordid affair? Always the same ones, as former Senator Steveson recalled. This time again, they are vigorously repeating their actions. It is the mafia clan of René Préval, allied with that of former President Jovenel Moïse, united in a final offensive against democracy in Haiti. For them, the 1987 Constitution — which they do not even know — would be a source of instability and an obstacle to good governance.

Their approach primarily aims to establish a strong and authoritarian president, by dismantling the guarantees of the rule of law based on a system of checks and balances and moderation of presidential power. In Haiti, constitutional change means a power struggle and confrontation between social classes, as historian Claude Moïse, emeritus professor at the University of Montreal, wrote.

We are indeed in a context of a struggle for power, where the objective of the current leaders is not to purge the 1987 text of its imperfections to make it a document of national pride, but to remain in power by confiscating upcoming elections.

To quote Marcel Gilbert, the traditional class holding state power is taking a new step in its violence against the people. Dominant classes, fueled by violence, only yield to a force greater than themselves. This draft Constitution is an act of violence against democracy and the rule of law. It challenges national independence and opens the door to all kinds of external threats.

It is out of civic and intellectual duty — without evasion or complacency — that I choose to deliver to the public a series of texts dedicated to this draft Constitution, brought back into current events by the authorities in power. In a context marked by a drought of critical thought and an absence of passion for inquiry, it is important for me to contribute to an informed debate. For the real objective of this process is to gain time to better siphon off state resources, while imposing a Constitution tailor-made for an autocratic regime — far removed from the governance dream of the Haitian people, who aspire to a just, democratic state, guaranteeing their well-being.

*Popular Participation Excluded*

It is recalled that the first amendments made to the foundational text of 1987 allowed René Préval, in 2011, to prevent popular participation in the political process by excluding territorial communities from the selection of members of the Permanent Electoral Council. In the process of selecting Electoral Council members, the powers that the 1987 Constitution had attributed to the Departmental Assemblies — which, it must be emphasized, were never constituted for political reasons related to the consolidation of an oligarchic power, distant from the people — were transferred to the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. These amendments were not accidental: René Préval, with his supporters grouped in his political structures — Vérité, Inité, and Lespwa — as well as a part of the financial oligarchy, whose influence is particularly strong in this CPT-government arrangement, hoped, with the 2010 elections, to seize power in Haiti for an unlimited period. The coup was thwarted, the project frustrated, by the arrival of Michel Martelly in power, imposed by Washington. Préval is no longer, but the group he established remains powerful enough to lead the country into disarray and democratic regression. This is what we are witnessing today.