Outgoing head of Haiti's TPC will not ratify handover to successor

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC -The Office of Communication of the Presidency said that the ceremony for the transfer of power between the outgoing President of the Transitional Presidential Council (TPC), Edgard Leblanc Fils, and his successor, Leslie Voltaire, will take place later on Monday.

However, in a video message, Leblanc Fils said he will not ratify the handover, citing unresolved corruption accusations against three other council members.

“I cannot participate in any process that will further weaken and devalue the country's justice system,” Leblanc Fils said in the four and a half minute video, after refusing to sign the resolution on Friday.

He insisted that the decision taken by the Council's majority is not good and that “it risks throwing us into instability, aggravating the country's situation and prolonging the transition process”.

Haiti's anti-corruption unit had recommended legal action in a report earlier this month that said the three had accepted credit cards and asked for nearly US$770,000 from a state-run bank president.

The accused are diplomat Smith Augustin, politician Louis Gerald Gilles, and former judge Emmanuel Vertilaire. All three have rejected the charges. Augustin was initially slated to succeed Leblanc Fils as the council's president.

But the three would be kept on the council under the resolution.

The dispute between Leblanc Fils and the rest of the TPC is creating new problems in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country still reeling from the gang massacre of at least 70 people last week, with Prime Minister Garry Conille seeking security assistance abroad.

“One of the aims of this trip is to go to Kenya to discuss with President Ruto how we can speed up the deployment of remnants of the Kenyan troops as quickly as possible to continue supporting the national police force,” Conille said.

Last week, the United Nations Security Council authorised for another year an international security force that is intended to help local police fight gangs and provide law and order.

Haiti named the TPC in April after intense negotiations between various sectors of the Caribbean nation's political and civil alliances. It was empowered with choosing a prime minister and wielding certain presidential powers until conditions are considered secure enough for a new election.

The nine-member council is set to transfer the rotating presidency to Voltaire later on Monday afternoon.

The January 30 Collective of political parties, which nominated Leblanc Fils to the council, said it noted “with amazement” the signatures of the three members accused of corruption on Friday's resolution and called for them to be put aside pending a judicial ruling.

Leblanc Fils has said he hopes the country's first elections since 2016 can be held next year.

The council was formed to replace the government of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was forced to step  down amid a gang conflict that has killed thousands and forced over 700,000 people from their homes.

Haiti has been without an elected government after President Jovenelle Moise was assassinated at his private residence on July 7, 2021.

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