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Since Mar. 25, employees at the National
Office for Old Age Insurance (ONA) have been protesting to
demand the dismissal of the agency’s Director General, Bernard
Degraff. This state agency, which manages the pensions for
employees of public and private companies in Haiti, handles a
lot of money, or rather mishandles it, the ONA employees charge.
They say that Mr. Degraff has
violated ONA’s mission by engaging in corruption of all kinds,
arbitrary and illegal mass dismissals, unwarranted and punitive
employee transfers, and the transfer of ONA accounts from the
state’s Bank of the Republic of Haiti (BRH) to a private bank,
which is a branch of a foreign bank. He has also dramatically
increased the salaries of himself and his inner circle and
engaged in lavish spending, even as the agency faces financial
difficulties.
The pension funds of the
insured have been invested to the tune of more than $3 million
in the construction of the five-star hotel Royal Oasis in the
hills of Pétion-ville and also been loaned to government
cronies, some of whom are not even insured by ONA, employees
say. Meanwhile, the real insured do not have access to loans,
and some retired people have had trouble receiving their
pensions.
According to the protesting
employees, ONA’s purpose and vision has shifted since its
leadership was changed after the Feb. 29, 2004 coup d’état
against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. ONA has changed from
providing service to seeking profit, they say, and to achieve
this, it advertises heavily to justify certain expenses.
Mr. Degraff’s mismanagement as
ONA’s director since President Michel Martelly came to power in
May 2011 prompted the Haitian Senate to adopt a May 27, 2013
resolution calling for his immediate dismissal due to
corruption, violation of ONA’s rules, and wasting precious state
resources (see Haïti Liberté,
May 1, 2013). Until now,
almost one year later, Mr. Martelly has ignored the resolution.
Four months later, in September
2013 , a council known as the Council for the Administration of
Social Security Agencies (CAOSS) was installed by Mr. Martelly
to ensure the proper functioning of ONA and OFATMA (Office of
Workplace Accidents, Illness, and Maternity). CAOSS is composed
of three representatives of the government, three
representatives from the business sector, and three
representatives from the trade union sector. Since its launch,
nobody knows what CAOSS has done, or in what way its so-called
consultants have tried to bring order to the management of ONA’s
funds. With the onset of this crisis we can expect them to
release a curt note in an attempt to provide some clarification
of the situation, but not to make the necessary changes in ONA’s
leadership.
Now ONA’s doors will be closed
until Mr. DeGraff is fired, say the protesters. In addition to
daily demonstrations in front of ONA’s headquarters at Delmas 17
in the capital, there have been actions at ONA offices around
Haiti to demand Mr. Degraff’s departure and the suspension of
all ONA services.
"We employees of ONA
throughout the country remain mobilized until the dismissal of
Bernard Degraff for mismanagement, administrative boondoggles,
and corruption,” the employees said in a press statement. “He
uses ONA funds as if they were his personal property to buy
luxury cars for his children and friends. We demand the
unconditional dismissal of Bernard Degraff, and if the President
refuses to hear our demands at this time, we will consider other
forms of protest with other demands."
On Mar. 25, as the protests
began, the substitute Government Commissioner of Port-au-Prince Gérald Norgaisse with a detachment of heavily armed policemen
from the Corps for Intervention and Maintenance of Order (CIMO)
arrested 11 ONA security guards and took them to the
Port-au-Prince prosecutor’s office. But the prosecutor never
showed up and the guards found themselves dumped in courtyard of
the Parquet (prosecutors’ offices) as the sun was setting.
According to Deputy Arnel Bélizaire, he was passing by the
offices, saw that there were no prosecutors to charge the
guards, and learned, after speaking to Commissioner Norgaisse,
that the men were free, so he and his security detail helped
them to return home. The next day, Commissioner Norgaisse
accused Mr. Bélizaire of barging into the Parquet accompanied by
armed men and forcing the release of the 11 security guards
awaiting interrogation. Norgaisse sent a letter to Justice
Minister Jean Renel Sanon to ask him to go to the Chamber of
Deputies to request the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of
Deputy Bélizaire so he could be arrested.
Already, once before, in
November 2011, the executive illegally arrested Mr. Bélizaire.
According to the 1987 Haitian
constitution, Article 115: "No member of the Legislature may
during his term be arrested under ordinary law for a crime, a
minor offense or a petty violation, except by authorization of
the House of which he is a member, unless he is apprehended in
the act of committing an offense punishable by death, personal
restraint or penal servitude or the loss of civil rights. In
that case, the matter is referred to the House of Deputies or
the Senate without delay of the Legislature is in session, and
if not, it shall be taken up the next regular or special
session.” And, according to the law, a corporal and
degrading punishment is the criminal penalty for a perpetrator
who might receive up to life imprisonment. But what crime did
Deputy Arnel Bélizaire commit to have Norgaisse request the
lifting of his immunity?
Meanwhile certain
parliamentarians of the pro-Martelly Parliamentarians for
Stability and Progress (PSP) bloc have committed outrageous
acts. Sen. Edwin Zenny spat in the face of a judge, Sen.
Wenceslas Lambert physically beat up a citizen who questioned
him, knocking out two of the man’s teeth, the deputies
Jean-Baptiste Bellange N'Zounaya and Rodriguez Séjour are both
accused of murdering policeman Walky Calixte, but all of these
parliamentarians remain comfortably in their posts.
This same substitute
Commissioner Gérald Norgaisse a few days later, on Mar. 29,
committed an act far more egregious than that of which he
accuses Deputy Bélizaire. He went into the women's prison in
Pétion-ville and facilitated the escape of the wife of Sonson La
Familia (Woodly Ethéart), a notorious drug dealer and the leader
of a gang of the kidnappers who is now a fugitive. She was being
held on the express orders of investigating judge Sonel Jean
François. This outrageous act forced Norgaisse to tender his
resignation. But has he resigned? According to reliable
information, a week after his supposed resignation, Norgaisse is
still going to his office at the Parquet of the Court of First
Instance of Port-Au-Prince.
Meanwhile, President Martelly
in a recent Cabinet reshuffle changed many Directors General of
public companies and agencies. But the most controversial
Directors General still retain their positions, namely Bernard DeGraff at ONA and Jean Marie Guillaume at CONATEL, the state
telecommunications authority. Keeping DeGraff in his post at ONA
is a provocation, say the protesting ONA employees. The 11
security guards ONA were taken to the prosecutor on Apr. 2, and
after a hearing, the prosecutor told them to remain at the
court’s disposition.
Several Haitian union leaders
have also called for Mr. Degraff’s removal. At an Apr. 4 press
conference, representatives of the Confederation of Haitian
Workers (CTH), the Haitian Trade Union Centre (HSC), and six
other unions all expressed their solidarity with the striking
ONA workers. Fignolé Saint-Cyr of the Autonomous Confederation
of Haitian Workers (CATH) stood out through his absence at the
press conference. Has CATH become a “pink union” (the Martelly
regime’s color) that is now kowtowing to the government and
racketeer bourgeoisie?
In addition for calling for Mr. Degraff’s immediate removal, the unionists also denounced the
flawed operation of several other state institutions, in
addition to ONA. They also pointed to the government's plan to
hike taxes on public transport vehicles across the country and
the registration stamp for motorcycles, which costs, they say,
more than 10,000 gourdes (US$224). They encouraged ONA employees
to maintain their mobilization, and if their demands are not
met, to move to a new phase.
The case of ONA proves once again how hostile
President Martelly is to popular demands while being tolerant
and even favorably disposed towards corruption, anarchy, and bad
governance. During the presidency of René Préval (2006-2011),
former ONA Director General Sandro Joseph was caught engaging in
corruption much more mild than Bernard Degraff’s. Mr. Joseph was
arrested and thrown into prison. Justice was doing its job, but
under Martelly’s presidency, justice has become an instrument of
repression against ONA employees demanding Mr. Degraff’s
dismissal for corruption. The ONA workers can no longer allow
the contributions of ONA policyholders, who work hard to make a
living, to be used to enrich a small corrupt clique in the
Martelly government. |
