Michel Martelly and Rene Preval: What is the difference?

Many people need to clean their optical lenses to appreciate the content of this piece. Please do not be carried by the wind of fanaticism as it will lead you to the land of stupidity. So open your eyes wide. What is the difference between Haiti’s former President Renel Preval and current President Michel Martelly?

Well, the reserved and taciturn nature of Rene Preval earned him some deep criticism during his two presidential terms. He was viewed as the enemy of the poor simply because he was not refined enough to communicate his vision to the Haitian people. He was portrayed as a “puppet” because the masses felt that he was coerced into serving the elite and the international powers. He frankly lost his sense of patriotism. Preval did not have any political, social, economic and educational agendas as Haiti deteriorated under his leadership. May God bless him now as he enjoys a great life in the land that he neglected to care for when he could! Again, may God bless him and I am being sarcastic.

Preval’s insouciance and failure led to the election of Haiti’s current President Michel Martelly, a former “konpa direk” singer, whom is viewed by many as the savior of the Haitian people in the midst of Haiti’s political and economic crises. After nearly a year and a half, let us compare the two leaders.

There is no doubt that President Martelly is flamboyant, unlike his predecessor. He connects well with his supporters (he plays dominoes with them, dancing with them, playing soccer with them etc…) When someone is down to earth like that, he/she is perceived as caring, loving, etc…The big question is: What has President Martelly done so far to help the masses?

Like his predecessor, he has done NOTHING. He has no political, social, economic and educational agendas.  He has instituted a program to increase the number of Haitian kids attending school by an additional million which, in my humble opinion, is a colossal failure. One does not need to be a rocket scientist to deduce the problem; how does a President claim to add nearly a million of students to a system without creating any new facilities? This program is a joke and that is all I am going to say. President Martelly has done nothing.

Some people may read this and strongly disagree with me; it is all good if you do but remember to check your optical lenses as they may be dirty. Maybe time will clean them up for you. Preval and Martelly are serving their international masters very well. Go figure. I was just saying.