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by Yves Pierre-Louis
Since President Michel Martelly’s
accession to power two years ago, corruption has become the
hallmark of his regime. The State’s entire administration is in
decline, marred by bribery, waste, mismanagement, illegal and
arbitrary dismissals, and incompetence.
The latest
corruption scandal to erupt is in the National Insurance Office
for the Elderly (ONA), Haiti’s social security institution which
is supposed to manage the contributions of Haitian workers in
the private sector to ensure their welfare as regulated by the
Labor Code.
This
institution has been headed by Director General Bernard Degraff
for over a year. Persistent accusations of corruption,
mismanagement, illegal firings, and inappropriate employee
transfers forced Senator Maxime Roumer, the President of the
Senate’s Social Affairs Committee, to summon for a questioning
Charles Jean-Jacques, the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor,
as well as Degraff. After several postponements, finally the
hearing took place in the Senate on Apr. 29.
The hearing
became very difficult for Bernard Degraff and his Special
Advisor, Jean Robert Simonise.
Sen. John Joel
Joseph outlined the wholesale corruption, mismanagement, and
wrongful dismissals his investigations have uncovered. He
charged that Degraff has unilaterally increased his own monthly
salary from 152,000 gourdes ($3,576) to 472,000 gourdes
($11,104) and that of Simonise from 190,000 gourdes ($4,470) to
351,270 gourdes ($8,264). These salaries far exceed that of the
President of the Republic.
Degraff also
bought three Toyota Prado SUVs at $76,000 each, one for him, one
for his assistant, and one for an advisor, which are registered
and plated as private cars, not state vehicles. Degraff also
paid $32,000 to make the vehicles bullet-proof.
He bought
another 40 vehicles with ONA money for employees who are close
to him and those vehicles also do not bear State plates, but are
private registered.
Furthermore,
Degraff bought an old house for ONA in Pétion-ville, without any
bidding, for a whopping $ 2.5 million and then paid another $1
million to repair it.
The worst is
Minister Charles Jean-Jacques claimed that he was unaware of
these fraudulent transactions, and in reports he submitted to
the Parliament , there was no mention of these purchases.
Meanwhile,
former ONA employees who had been wrongly fired managed to get
into the Parliament, and, with placards in hand, they called for
the dismissal and arrest of Degraff . Some of the demonstrators
even managed to slap Degraff as he left the Legislative Palace.
Sen. Pierre
Francky Exius proposed firing Degraff for corruption and
embezzlement of state funds. This proposal was supported by
several of his colleagues, including the Commission’s president,
Sen. Roumer.
Meanwhile,
public school teachers continue to demonstrate for payment of
several months of back wages, farmers are demanding water and
fertilizer to increase their agricultural production, and people
around the nation are demanding the construction of roads and
public markets. Such corruption only adds fuel to the fires of
demonstrations burning everywhere.
Already, Martelly’s close advisor and cousin,
hotelier and musician Richard Morse and Minister of Economy and
Finance, Marie Carmelle Jean-Marie have resigned because of
blatant corruption. Now, a group of citizens has started a
petition entitled "Stop the abuses," which seeks to challenge
parliamentarians to start impeachment proceedings against
President Martelly. |
