According to Lucas Saint Vil, the President of the Senate Commission "Education" the senators would consider voting the law creating the National Education Fund (FNE)... Senators wish to have more information on the management of the funds already collected by the Bank of the Republic of Haiti (BRH) and the National Telecommunications Council (CONATEL). Wilson Laleau, Minister of Economy and Finance has promised this week to the senators to give them a consolidated report, to be developed by his Ministry, the BRH and CONATEL to avoid any misinterpretation that could prevent the passage of this law.

Recall that for more than two years since the FNE was launched, Parliament still has to ratify the Bill allowing the FNE to use these funds for education. The Lower House passed the bill in August 2012 after changes [13 months after the creation of the FNE] and sent it to the Senate for ratification in the same terms.

Also note that in early July, the Prime Minister, Laurent Lamothe, Simon Dieuseul Desras, President of the Senate and Jean Tholbert Alexis, President of the Chamber of Deputies, had held a joint press conference to present to the population the priority bills on which the Executive and Parliament are working within the framework of the second ordinary session of the legislative year, the "Bill on the establishment, organization and functioning of the National Fund for Education (FNE)" appeared on the menu of the legislative agenda... Apparently the Senators seem to have difficulty understanding the meaning of "priority, challenges and causes..."

According to the latest available figures, the total amount collected and to be collected, at the level of phone contribution for the period from 15 June 2011 to 28 November 2013 amounted to U.S. $ 66,958,048.53 (66,694,693.38 collected and 263,355.15 to be collected).

Note that this amount does not include the cost of U.S. $ 1.50 levied on incoming and outgoing transfers, which are collected by the Central Bank under the FNE, which could represent an additional sum of over $100 million[estimate HL]. The absence of the passage of this law prevents the use of these funds for education.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-9454-haiti-education-fne-nearly-$145-million-unusable.html

SL/ HaitiLibre