Each approved candidate for presidential elections may send us information about its program and its commitments. HaitiLibre will make the publication free of charge, without distinction or privilege, for the sole purpose to inform and to disseminate as widely as possible information to voters and the public. We wish to reiterate that HaitiLibre is a media independent and that publication of such information shall in no case be considered as the position of HaitiLibre.

Leslie Voltaire

Platfòm Ansanm Nou Fò

ORIENTATIONS FOR A BETTER HAITI

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

LESLIE VOLTAIRE

« Kok la Chante, ansanm ansanm an nou leve kanpe »

« Pou nou bati yon lòt Ayiti»

Dear compatriots,

The type of society I am proposing to you today is one that will, first and foremost rebuild the citizens’ trust in government institutions by initiating a permanent and constructive dialogue between all partners through which everybody can contribute to the building of a better Haiti. My program consists of a set of concrete actions to be implemented so as to put our country back on the path of sustainable development. I am fully committed to work endlessly with you in their realization as “together we are strong".

In fairness, I cannot tell you that all of Haiti’s problems will be resolved over the next five years. However, we have a real opportunity, now and together, to reduce precariousness, injustice, exclusion, unemployment and poverty.

Our country, since the earthquake, is at a critical point of its history. I want to promote greater social cohesiveness and to initiate the reforms essential to build an equitable society, with greater solidarity, in which everyone, including our brothers and sisters from the diaspora, is able to fully participate in the development of our beloved Haiti.

The program I am proposing to initiate as soon as I take office is both pragmatic and realistic. It aims to achieve the following objectives:

TO OFFER A RAPID RESPONSE TO NATIONAL EMERGENCIES

In particular, I will aim to:

• Implement a relocation and housing program for victims of the January 12, 2010 earthquake;

• Ensure the safety of vulnerable women and children;

• Develop efficient mechanisms to manage catastrophic events and risks;

• Introduce the critical measures required to reduce environmental risks; and

• Launch social insertion programs for displaced populations, and establish a comprehensive list of vulnerable persons most in need of support (isolated minors, orphans, handicapped, senior citizens, the chronically ill, and disadvantaged women head of family).

NATIONAL RECONSTRUCTION Ansanm nou pral fè l

The reconstruction process will serve as a vehicle to achieve economic and democratic development. This will mean rebuilding infrastructures, housing and buildings, but also promoting new governance methods based on transparency, dialogue, partnerships and the strengthening of regional capacities.

• Competencies in anti-seismic and anti-hurricanse construction standards will be strengthened through training, skills upgrading and involvement of all participants in the construction sector;

• Access to land ownership will be facilitated for victims of the January 12 earthquake, with particular attention to women heads of families;

• Towns and villages will be rebuilt in accordance with masterplans which take into account environmental and safety (in particular for women in urban areas) concerns and include the infrastructures needed for community activities and citizen participation to the management of their community.

TO BUILD A FUTURE FOR OUR YOUNG POPULATION

Our children are the strength and future of our nation. We will work with all our energy to make the fundamental right to education, health and nutrition a reality for all Haitian youth. To that end, these sectors will be at the forefront of our program and will be allocated a significant increase in their investment and recurrent budgets. Priority will be given to:

• Expanding basic education, with the medium term objective to enroll all children;

• Promoting school enrollment and retention of children and in particular girls;

• Reducing the costs to parents of schooling their children;

• Improving the quality of education by upgrading teachers’ training and working conditions;

• Developing programs curricula, quality norms and evaluation mechanisms;

• Developing partnerships with the non-public sector (private, communities, confessional, NGOs, etc) to promote delivery of quality education.

• Introducing scholarships and internships programs, both in Haiti and abroad;

• Introducing a civil service for men and women to promote social cohesiveness and civic awareness as well as supporting underprivileged communities;

• Developing technical, professional and university education.

TO DEVELOP AN EFFICIENT HEALTH SYSTEM

Haiti’s heath status, high fertility and lack of health facilities are among the worse in the region. Significant public investments will be deployed and multilateral and bilateral partners identified to create an efficient accessible system and provide quality services at low cost to the population. The following priorities will be implemented:

• The implementation of a structured health system and the strengthening of the referral mechanisms ;

• Early childhood development (prevention and curative health, nutrition…) ;

• Integrated care of childhood diseases ;

• Family Planning services, including women’s reproductive prenatal and maternal health to reduce infant and maternal mortality;

• Vertical programs for endemic and transmissible and diseases ( malaria, AIDS, Tuberculosis, etc);

• Mental health ; and

• The rehabilitation of hospital facilities (tertiary and referral).

TO RESTORE OUR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

Stopping the destruction of our environment and engaging in a proactive rehabilitation is an unavoidable necessity. Our program therefore includes the implementation of a national policy with the following priorities:

• Protection of at-risk zones such as Gonaives, Jacmel or Cabaret, against hurricanes and earthquakes;

• Rehabilitation of watersheds through reforestation, repair of ravines and river beds, and development of a sustainable agriculture respectful of ecosystems;

• Development of crisis management capacities;

• Charcoal substitution;

• Realization of educational and awareness campaigns for all citizens including school age children, on the importance of their contribution to the improvement of the environment.

TO STRENGTHEN THE RULE OF LAW AND NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY

Political instability, insecurity and institutional inefficiencies have weakened the citizens’ trust in the State and eroded national sovereignty. To correct this situation, we intend:

• To initiate a reform of the legal and judicial system (penitentiaries; training of judges and lawyers; land reform; anti-corruption measures) in line with the protection of human rights;

• To actively engage, at all levels of the system, in a fight against corruption;

• To develop the National police including the creation of a special unit to fight gangs, narcotics; kidnapping and money laundering;

• To strengthen national and regional administrations by increasing their capacity to formulate, monitor, control and evaluate national and regional programs and projects.

Strengthening these institutions will allow us to better align external investments and private initiatives (NGOs, etc) to the country’s program and priorities and will facilitate the progressive withdrawal of MINUSTAH troops.

TO REVITALIZE THE ECONOMY AND REDUCE UNEMPLOYMENT

Economic growth will require an increased participation of the private sector in all segments of the economy and a strong partnership between public and private sectors. To that end, our program intends to improve the enabling environment through:

• The revision of the legal and regulatory framework to provide greater efficiency and transparency, including simplification of land ownership procedures.

• The rehabilitation of infrastructures (energy; ports; roads; etc);

• In the financial sector, the creation of pension funds (retirement plans) to increase funds available for infrastructure investments;

• The promotion of real estate investments through credit guaranties to individuals;

• The extension of micro-credit initiatives throughout the country and the development of investment funds for small and medium size enterprises, with particular attention to women and young adults;

• The strengthening of technological and professional capacities to increase the pool of qualified engineers and managers which the country needs. This will mean developing, in collaboration with the private sector, and the international community, three technological poles of technicians, mid-level technicians and engineers in the country’s priority areas (agriculture; agro-industry; construction; electricity, mechanics, computers, chemistry and biotechnology).

For the agricultural sector, our program includes:

• The rehabilitation and development of rural infrastructures (irrigation ; rural roads..) to facilitate access to markets ;

• Greater access to rural credits to permit producers to purchase quality agricultural inputs and therefore to improve land productivity ;

• Creation of a National Agricultural Research Center in collaboration with renowned international Centers such as in Brazil in order to develop new technologies and new varieties of agricultural products.

In the tourism sector, our program includes the creation of new touristic areas and the promotion of artistic, cultural and crafts activities linked to tourism.

On the macro-economic side, we will implement a transparent, fair and efficient fiscal policy, to increase the State’s revenues; more specifically we intend to strengthen the fiscal administration and to maintain public database on the use of all operational expenditures. Our objective is to generate sufficient revenues to finance all operating costs, keeping external assistance for investments only.

STATE MODERNIZATION AND DECENTRALIZATION

The consequences of the earthquake have shown us the danger of over-centralizing executive entities and point to an evolution in the respective roles of the central and regional levels, and therefore to a modification of the Constitution to that effect. I am therefore committed to prepare the ground for a formal decentralization by:

• Creating strong regional executive positions, provided with the means to implement the national sector policies, in particular in priority sectors such as education and health;

• Adapting the roles and competencies of the central administration to improve its capacities to formulate, supervise and evaluate policies; and transferring responsibilities for Implementation and monitoring as well as civil servants to the regions;

• UProviding a decentralized access to justice and legal and paralegal services; and

• Introducing incentive to citizens’ participation, such as the periodic publication of data on the realization of projects and public spending.

Leslie Voltaire

See also:

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-1191-haiti-elections-who-is-leslie-voltaire.html

HL/ HaitiLibre