It is a decision that plunges Haiti “a little more in turmoil”, summary The New York Times. Just five months after he was appointed to try to stabilize a country plagued by gang violence, Prime Minister Garry Conille has been fired by the island's Presidential Transitional Council (PTC), according to the official newspaper The Monitor, published on Monday, November 11. The electronic version of the document circulated on Sunday, a few hours before its entry into force, specifies the Haitian newspaper The Nouvelliste.
Conille, a 58-year-old doctor and former regional director of Unicef for Latin America and the Caribbean and “one of the favorites of the international community”, will be replaced by businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, owner of a dry cleaning chain and former candidate for the Haitian Senate, specifies the New York Times.
The Transitional Council, established in April, was responsible for appointing a prime minister while retaining part of the presidential powers until the security situation allows new elections to be held.
The decision to remove the Prime Minister from office comes after weeks of conflict between Garry Conille and the Council. Some analysts yesterday compared his dismissal to “a politically motivated coup d’état”, note it New York Times.
The American daily recalls that relations between the Council and the Prime Minister were tense from the start.
“In a country known for its partisan factions and internal political struggles, Mr. Conille angered the Council by, for example, going to Washington without informing it in advance.”
More recently, he refused to reshuffle his government as the CPT had asked him to do. But “the straw that broke the camel's back appears to have been Mr. Conille's efforts to remove three Council members accused of corruption from office,” concludes the New York Times.
“In the background of this crisis, the effect of the recent American elections is felt: the Democratic administration, whose support Conille hoped for, suffered a setback which further weakened its position,” analyzed the Haitian site on Sunday Network Nodes.
Two Prime Ministers
According to the Miami Herald, the swearing-in of Alix Didier Fils-Aimé “could take place as early as Monday morning, causing a situation in which Haiti, already politically unstable, could find itself with […] two Prime Ministers if Conille chooses not to relinquish power.” “Dropped by the Transition Council”, the one reacted on Sunday “clinging to the Constitution”, underlines The Nouvelliste, who believes that he has “brandi” this text from 1987 “to stay in office”.
In a letter that circulated on social media on Sunday, Garry Conille contested that the Transition Council had the authority to remove a Prime Minister from office. “This resolution, taken outside of any legal and constitutional framework, raises serious concerns about its legitimacy and its impact for the future of our country,” is written in the letter. The Prime Minister recalled that “only the government has the right to order the publication of any official document” and that the publication of a resolution terminating the functions of the Prime Minister in the official government journal was therefore “illegal”.
“In the meantime, the multidimensional crisis is only getting worse, particularly in terms of security, REMARK AlterPresse. Bandits have increased their threats in recent days, while, according to various testimonies, a wave of kidnappings is sweeping the capital. The gangs have extended their control over the metropolitan area, which is 85% occupied instead of 80%, as was the case at the start of the transition.”
