Overview:
Garry Conille is facing hurdles early on as Haiti’s transitional Prime Minister after clashing with the Transitional Presidential Council (CPT) over logistical details – such as a proper installation that would allow him to sign documents — and his overall vision to staff the government with technocrats instead of political cronies.
Editor’s Note: This is a developing story we will update as it unfolds.
Haiti’s newly named transitional Prime Minister Garry Conille is facing two major hurdles early on in performing his duties, sources say, that raises questions about completing the power transition. Sources close to Conille said Thursday that he is battling Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council (CPT) over both logistical details – such as the missed formal installation that would give him the power to officially sign documents — and his overall vision to staff the government with technocrats instead of cronies.
In WhatsApp interviews Thursday evening, the sources said Conille was frustrated and questioned how he might function under such circumstances. As of late Thursday, Conille was in talks with United Nations officials to discuss the challenges.
“Some members of the CPT are making things difficult for Garry,” said one source, a close friend of Conille. “They are playing hard because they want to control everything and not give him any functioning power.”
The heated conversations and scenes described put into question whether the latest attempt at a power transition for Haiti might come to fruition. On Feb. 29, a gang-led takeover of Haiti’s capital led to the Caricom-brokered resignation of then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry on March 11 and brought the CPT into existence.
To some observers, however, the issue highlights a necessary part of bringing positive change to governing Haiti.
“As a fellow administrator, I’m seeing this as part of the process,” said Carole Berotte Joseph, a former candidate for the transitional prime minister post. “We need to be patient with the process while it plays out, so long as voices are heard.”
The signature issue and ministry clash
Speaking on condition of anonymity to not jeopardize their roles in ongoing conversations, the sources said the logistical challenge became clear during a signature validation step with officials at the Ministry of Finance.
It appears that when Conille sent in his signature for validation — a part of the process that would provide proper recognition for authorizing official documents — the Finance officials said they could not carry out the validation step since Conille was not properly installed. The Finance Ministry officials told Conille the nomination letter he received on Monday was not sufficient for the signature validation.
The signature validation appears to be the latest in a series of battles Conille is having with CPT members over the number of ministries making up the government and the people to staff each cabinet. Conille had informed them that he planned to hire technical experts to lead Haiti’s ministries instead of the politicians that the council proposed.
As of Thursday, Conille was considering consolidating the government’s 18 ministries into 13 maximum, the sources said. He also wanted to reduce the number of personnel in each ministry’s cabinet from the current norm of at least 15 to seven members maximum.
Some members of the CPT came with lists of names for jobs that Conille rejected. Instead, he is insisting on filling the top cabinet posts with at least three people of his choosing.
“He’s fighting now to name his ministers,” one source said. “The process of merging and saving money has a lot of people up in arms. They [the CPT] all have their own agreements with different people. It’s not clear how this will play out.”
PM selection process opaque since the start
The uncertainty has been part of the transition since the Caricom deal was announced. The selection of Conille and his role also seem to have been marred by an opaque and unclear process.
On May 28, the CPT chose Conille as the new prime minister to lead Haiti’s transitional period from a crowded field of nearly 200 applicants. He was officially presented as Prime Minister of Haiti by the president of the CPT, Edgar Gardy Leblanc Fils, but his installation was never officially completed. Instead, during a brief ceremony, Leblanc gave Conille a decree.
An academic, medical doctor, author and development worker, Conille previously served as Haiti’s prime minister from October 2011 to February 2012 during the Joseph Michel Martelly presidency.
His selection has drawn both support and criticism from Haitians in Haiti and abroad, with most people holding on to hope for a better Haiti.
“I’m hopeful that we’ll get through this and we’ll get Haiti on the right track, and that the PM and the Transitional Council will come together and make the right decisions for leadership,” Berotte Joseph said. “But that nut, the corruption, we have to crack that nut.”