ARTICLE - MARTELLY - DIASPORA FOR EDUCATION SUPPORT

HAITI'S MARTELLY ASKS DIASPORA FOR EDUCATION SUPPORT
(AlertNet) - By Pascal Fletcher

* Proposes fund donations from remittances, phone calls

* Says this would give free schooling to 860,000 children

MIAMI - Haiti's President-elect Michel Martelly asked Haitians living abroad on Monday to support his country's post-earthquake recovery with contributions to a fund for education to come out of money transfers and phone calls.

More than 4 million Haitians live oversees, around half of them in North America, and annual remittances sent to the small Caribbean country total $1.8 billion, which accounts for almost a quarter of its gross domestic product (GDP).

"We need you to bring your talents back to Haiti. We need you to bring your skills and expertise back to Haiti. The simple fact is that we cannot change our country without your support," Martelly said in Miami, where he met diaspora community leaders during a visit to the United States.

"Sweet Mickey" Martelly, a former carnival music star, won a March 20 presidential run-off and will take office on May 14. He told reporters he planned to set up an education fund to help ensure free primary schooling for Haitian children.

"Education is the future of Haiti," he said.

Haiti's infrastructure was badly hit by the devastating January 2010 earthquake, which destroyed or damaged dozens of schools. Many teachers were among the more than 300,000 people the government says were killed.

Martelly, who has no previous government experience, proposed tapping into the heavy annual volume of remittances to Haiti to provide $50 million a year to the education fund. Details of this were being worked out.

"Let's say that you send 100 dollars from Miami to Haiti. You will contribute one dollar directly into the education fund to pay for schooling, transport, and one meal per day for more than 500,000 children aged 6-12 that currently do not have access to school," he said.

In addition, Martelly said he had agreed with telephone operators in Haiti for five cents out of every minute of calls from the United States to go towards the same education fund.

This would bring in an additional $36 million a year, which would pay for an additional 360,000 children, he said.

"The diaspora will be able to help send 860,000 kids to school for free and change their lives," Martelly said.

The president-elect, who won nearly 68 percent of the votes to beat rival Mirlande Manigat, also pledged preferential treatment to Haitian-American companies to involve them in his country's rebuilding from last year's earthquake.

Billions of dollars of foreign aid have been pledged for the reconstruction and Martelly called for more Haitians to join the decision-making of where these funds should be used.

He repeated promises to improve guarantees and security for private investment projects in his country, including a proposal for the state to directly intervene if conflicts over land ownership were holding up a project.

Investors often complain of land ownership disputes being an obstacle to business plans in Haiti, and Martelly has said that in such cases his administration will take over the contested land to allow the project to proceed, and then pay compensation when an amount has been settled in the courts.

"We can't allow a land conflict to prevent investment in Haiti," he said in Miami.

Although his own presidential victory has been confirmed, the United Nations and foreign donors have questioned some of Haiti's legislative election results announced last week, citing more than a dozen unexplained changes that favored the INITE party of outgoing President Rene Preval.

Martelly has called on the Organization of American States to help set up an independent commission to review the results for some 17 deputies and a senator that are under question. (Editing by Laura MacInnis)