ARTICLE - PM AND INTERIOR MINISTER - ARMY

PM AND THE MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR WILL EXPLAIN THE NEW FORCE
(Haiti Libre) -

Senator Moïse Jean Charles stated that the Prime Minister, Dr. Garry Conille and Mr. Thierry Mayard-Paul, the Minister of Interior and Territorial Collectivities and National Defense are invited before the Senate, on Wednesday, October 26 to give explanations about the new national security force.

"...We believe, as co-custodians of the national sovereignty, that it is necessary to convene the Minister of the Interior and the Prime Minister, so that they can shed light about this important issue [... ] There are conditions to meet to have an army, and the fact of not knowing if they are satisfied, justifies that we convene the leaders to understand what is happening here.

The letter has just arrived at the office of President. There are six colleagues who signed [the Senators Moise Jean Charles, Jean-Baptiste Bien-aimée, Nenel Cassy, Wesner Polycarpe, Joseph Joël John, and Pierre Francky Exius]. [...] We know that if there is an army, currently there is no budget [...] It is necessary to explain where the uniforms will be found. We need to know where they will find the weapons. I believe there is an arms embargo. We also need to know when they will make the recruitment, and the training. All of these things must be clear to the general public. That's why we invited the Minister of the Interior and the Prime Minister [...] because nobody knows what is happening. I think that we take our responsibilities as part of the audit work, that we have on the Executive..."

Senator Rodolphe Joazile, President of the Senate, reported that a meeting is scheduled for next Monday at 10 am on the projet of the National Security Force of President Martelly "It's at this time that we will know exactly how they want to make this approach. I think, if it is to create a General Staff (État-Major),[...] they will be able to find people on the ground to create it.

[...] In my opinion, legally and constitutionally, the Parliament does not need to be consulted on this issue, because [...] the army of Haiti is constitutional, even today. If you open the Constitution of 1987, you will see that there are two forces: the army and police forces. Now if there was an order or decree, they took to dissolve the army. I do not think that's it,... he [President Martelly] will always be able to defer the decree and he will not need Parliament.

Now, to set up the institution, which exists in law but not in practice, you will need money, not only to pay the executives, to recruit, to buy equipment, etc... [...] That money should not from any other place than the state budget. It is obvious that it will be necessary to sit with the Parliament to see how.... we will identify ways to support this new institution.

At the beginning of the fiscal year, October 1, 2011, we had no budget, simply because we did not have a government in the country. Today, I think the priority of the new government is to prepare a new budget and submit it to the discretion of Parliament [...] of course, if it is a priority for the Government, if at the level of the state, they make arrangements, they will identify ways in the budget to support this initiative.

All things are a priority in the country. If you ask me today if the country needs an army, I would say yes without hesitation, because I am a former captain of the Armed Forces of Haiti. I can not deny my past. Now if you ask me, as a statesman, is the military a priority? I would say that everything is a priority, hence the need for a national debate and for reflection on the issue, so that we can jointly define the order of priorities..."