St. Thomas, USVI.... Taken by me

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Wyclef Running For President of Haiti: Keeping An Open Mind


For the past week or two, the web has been buzzing about Wyclef Jean running for President. Personally, I was one of those who said "Wyclef for President" even before the earthquake. But after the earthquake so many articles surfaced about Yelé's books not being correct and him paying his mistress thousands of dollars from Yéle's money. It made me sad to read these articles because I love Wyclef. He is our pride and represents his country around the world! So, it's hard to accept that he would PURPOSELY waste money donated for his people . I still do NOT believe that he would splurge on a mistress with Yéle's money. My opinion. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt.

What I do find strange is how everyone is interested in how Yéle spends its money. I don't disagree with that. BUT why don't I see the same interest in other organizations that used Haiti to collect millions? Especially organizations that grew like mushrooms after January 12, 2010. Yéle existed BEFORE January 12. While I may agree that it's far from being a perfect organization when it comes to how its money is pent, at least I know it was not created because the earthquake looked like an opportunity to its creators. How about the other big organizations that received most of the MILLIONS donated by using pictures of our people suffering, crushed under concrete? If there was the same outrage, and articles about their books, maybe they would actually use those funds on what they received them for.

It's just strange that the ONE organization run by a Haitian that gets some media attention ,gets it for all the wrong reasons! Something is not right with that! When watching reports on Haiti or reading articles from the media giants, you would think that no Haitian is helping, while there are organizations run by Haitians that are doing what they can to help, with very little financial help. They get NO media time because there is no "smoking gun" information to put about them on the internet and no one knows them. It would not be juicy enough. Yéle gets all the attention, but for all the wrong reasons. Makes me wonder....

Now the big news is that Wyclef MAY run for president of Haiti in the next elections. So far they are rumors and people are freaking out already. Why? Some say he is not qualified enough. He doesn't have any political background. Some others say he doesn't speak French or he doesn't speak Creole enough (he is not Haitian enough like Oabama was not Black enough). Some say 'popularity doesn't mean qualification to be a leader" but even in the USA, running for office is about popularity (why didn't McCain win? He clearly had more experience). I even saw a tweet saying he is too ugly.

I understand why some may say he is not politically qualified for the job. But, for as long as I can remember, Haiti has had very politically qualified leaders, but look at where we are today. Even before the earthquake, Haiti was already a mess where money just vanished, the president doesn't care about the people, food prices skyrocket, everyone fix their own prices in any currency that pleases them, parents could not afford to pay their children tuition etc... Parents were giving away their children before the earthquake because they could not afford to raise them. All of this was happening with "politically qualified" people in power. And the earthquake just showed all of us that it's not about diplomas, and which language you speak to do good. Unfortunately, just about all of the heavy politically educated "leaders" of Haiti survived and look at where the people are six months later? Still under sheets, tents with babies, and they are not even able to provide security to them. Women, young girls, as young as 5 years old are getting raped; they are not even smart enough to demand all of the organizations to provide jobs to young Haitians even those with multiple degrees! Proof that diplomas don't make a man patriotic. Once they get paid, they don't care about the population.

Some others are panicking because Wyclef, so far, has shown some signs that he cares about the "little ones". And that won't work for SOME, should he become President. Since he was raised in the United States, he may want to set some standards for workers, for example, or even listen to the people when they talk to him (which never happens in Haiti). Some Haitians WANT Haiti to stay in limbo, so they can be in business and don't pay any taxes, pay less then minimum wage etc... A President who is listening to the people, grew up in the USA and might start doing things the normal way can be panicking to some.

Personally, I don't care that he doesn't have any political background. I think if he surrounds himself with new people, not those who are already there, he MIGHT do well. I think, if Wyclef runs and becomes President of Haiti and remembers how a real country should look like, he can rebuild and restart tourism again. By restarting tourism, jobs will be created for the people and they will start taking care of themselves, instead of begging, risking their lives catching boats to other places or go get lynched in the Dominican Republic. That's just one of the good things I can see coming out of this. So far, NO PRESIDENT has seen the potential of Haiti being a destination for tourists again. They are too busy begging and filling their pockets.

I am not sure how I feel about a potential run of Wyclef for President right now, but i am not against it. I am open to it. If he runs and presents plans that look like they may work for the betterment of Haiti, I'm all for it. Because I am tired of those beggars who have done nothing but making us look like fools to the world. All they have done is thieving and squeezing everything out of the population, selling the country piece by piece to whoever wants some. Next week, we will all know if he will run and if he does, I can't wait to see what he has to offer. Everyone makes mistakes; no one's perfect. If his plans sounds right to me, besides the fact that he is not some broke man who just wants the highest paying position in Haiti, he has my vote.

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