Haitian Prime Minister Speaks with Miami Hearld Editorial Board

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6 COMMENTS

  1. Dare I make this suggestion? Have not thought it through to any degree so don’t jump on me too hard, please! We send Aid money to Haiti.(can someone say how much each year for the past five years?) Suppose instead of sending that money we offer an equivalent amount to do the following. Give full scholarships to a certain number of Hatian children, in the field of agriculture at COB, and sponsored by the B.Gov., BAIC, and the Dep’t of Immigration. The children to live with someone in our farming community for the duration of their stay in our country. When they graduate we work with the Hatian agricultural community and help purchase land in Haiti for the purpose of farming a crop that can be grown that is needed both in Haiti and can be imported into the Bahamas at a reasonable cost. The Haitian recipient of this aid and land will receive the necessary equipment for farming and the seedlings etc that they need to start the venture. After they begin making a profit arrangements can be made for say a 10% return of the profit to the established fund for the sponsorship of additional students. This profit sharing by the original recipient should continue for from 5 to 10 years.
    BAIC personal should be assigned to mentor all recipients for a specific period of time before and after graduation . Do you think this might be a plan that could work with some refinements and that might solve the dilema we now face with money not getting to the needy? Might we do the same thing for a number of our own children?

  2. Something definitely has to be done about Haiti. Just a few days ago, I saw an interview with Bill Clinton talking about Haiti’s crisis, and how during his presidency he sought to get more aid to them. He is now preparing to return to Haiti to do some goodwill there. The Bahamas needs to do its part also. Haiti’s crisis has turn into our own. Some $5.2 million dollars has been spent in the last few years just for repatriation. It a sad state to see that people in Haiti, for the most part, live in such absolute poverty. Surely there is a means to get aid to the people who need it most.

  3. @Joe Blow
    Your right JB. The system is broken and those at the bottom continually get screwed while those who turn the wheels keep some of the grease fro themselves.

  4. We have known for a long time that aid money going to third world countries seldom reach the people that need the help. Yet we keep sending it. We try to circumvent the tendency of the money to disappear by sending equipment and supplies but that doesn’t seem to work either. We have the United Nation for such purposes but it has become obvious that it cannot function as envisioned because only the big 5 have the power and not all of them pay their fair share to that organization. It takes hands on people like the Peace Corps, etc. who will go in, despite all odds, and do the ground work and even they are twarted at every turn. Time to step back and rethink this whole thing because it will not help as it is now structured. We all want what is best for our brothers but we are only fueling the greedy who are in power in those countries. They don’t care!.

  5. Well We cannot answer That Altec, but perhaps Hubert Ingraham can. Stay tuned, part two of his involvements in the 1980s will be revealed today. STAY TUNED!

    BP

  6. BP, at the 2 minute mark of the clip, the PM of Haiti makes a good point and a point of concern as well. if money’s given by the US and Canada doesnt go directly to the Haitian government because the government is corrupt, then who are the NGOs that get that money? That interest me because the Bahamas, through CARACOM, gives financial assistance to Haiti too. What NGO(s) is getting that money if not the government cause obviously that money isnt getting to the people in the form of services and assistance.

    Remember in 2004 the corruption case that embarrassed former UN head Kofi Annan when his son was involved in that oil for food kick back scam at the UN? Something is fishy and it seems as if the Haitian PM is subtly hinting at it.

    For the amount of financial assistance Haiti is getting from the US and Canada alone, things shouldn’t be that bad. The citizens shouldn’t be eating mud cakes.

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