President Jovenel Moïse says it in public and assumes it. After God, no one has more power than him in the land of Dessalines, as Haiti is commonly known.
The first of the servants of the state, uninhibited, led by his ego, buries humility, assumes his status as “sèl kòkchante”, alpha male of Haiti’s backyard.
President Moïse, never far from his pedestal, asserts himself and flaunts himself, almost in defiance of Haitian sociology and the country’s history.
“Ayisyen pa renmen lè puwa monte nan tèt chèf la”, underline those who know Haiti’s people, customs and traditions.
The president forgets that Haitians love leaders but don’t like it when they get drunk on power.
Strong men here, backed by the army, militia or the people, were once worshiped, then hated and down. Only – with families and or without amassed fortune – strong presidents have found themselves in exile rehashing their faults, betrayals, disappointments and the absence of lucidity and intelligence, essential for reforms or political maneuvers.
President Moïse, freed from the embarrassment of failure on the front of the democratic governance of the country, displays his muscles and fangs. Failure to hold elections gives it full powers. More clever than some think, Moïse knits, plays and takes advantage of the fragility of the police chief’s interim status to keep certain disputes in check.
Yet the almighty president is devilishly weak when it comes to fighting insecurity, curbing the fall of the gourde, the slide of almost half of the Haitian population into food insecurity and controlling the soaring inflation. Continue reading.