Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer

The official order establishing the nine member Transitional Presidential Council in Haiti has been published in the official gazette, according to reports, a possible path to a new beginning for the gang-run nation.

CARICOM welcomed this development in a press release on April 12, a move it says will take Haiti through elections to bring back societal and political order. 

It further details the recent advancements. 

“…the Transitional Presidential Council has devised a framework setting out the creation, organization and functioning of the Council, and arrived at a Political Accord that articulates the way forward. The CARICOM Heads of Government fully endorse the principles of Political Accord and in particular take note of Article 16 which states, “The mission of the Presidential Council is to put Haiti back on the road to dignity, democratic legitimacy, stability and sovereignty and to ensure the proper functioning of the State’s institutions,” the organization maintained. 

The UN Secretary General, Antonio Gutteres, also acknowledged the publishing of the decree, and he is calling on Haitian stakeholders to continue to facilitate the integration of the council and quickly appoint the interim Prime Minister, as returning stability within the Republic is paramount given recent gang developments.

It is important to note that despite the Council’s progression, gangs aren’t likely to allow an easy transition back to a government run Haiti like before, as indicated by major gang leader, Jimmy Cherizier, who has expressed to the media that if “bandits” and poor people aren’t given a place at the table, a voice in the decision making, they won’t allow things to just go back.

Not to mention his intention to treat foreign forces intended to intervene on the ground in Haiti, as threats, that is, the Multinational Force to be led by Kenya.

Haiti has been in an elevated level of chaos since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. 

Gangs have killed thousands of people; men and women and children included. Just as many are displaced as their homes are no longer safe according to reports. 

Millions are starving, schools have been shut down, medical facilities also and the few still available are lacking resources to treat the injured, evoking global agreement that leaderless Haiti is sinking into the depths of a frightening humanitarian crisis.

It is hoped this decree is a development to stop the downward spiral in the quality of life in the republic, home to over 11 million people.