PORT AU PRINCE – President-elect Jovenel Moise has pledged to work with all Haitians in developing the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country and appealed to everyone to come together and work “hand in hand to put the country on the road to order, discipline and progress”.
In an address to the nation on Tuesday night hours after the Electoral Court had dismissed the appeal by three political parties challenging the outcome of the November 20 presidential election last year, Moise said “tonight we celebrate a beautiful page of history.
“You have chosen the path of progress, the path of democracy, political stability, the path of national production, the path of development, It means the path of a better life for each Haitian,” he said, making a pledge to all citizens his “commitment to work with all Haitians hand in hand to put the country on the road of order, discipline and progress.
“I thank everyone, the people who did not vote for me, the people who did not vote at all … but all these people whether they voted or not, I think they believe in Haiti,” said Moise, who is expected to be sworn into office on February 7.
“I will work for all Haitians without distinction, It was not an easy battle, but I have a soul of competitor, all of you who fought for Haiti, I tell you tonight it is Haiti that won. It is you all I will work for all Haitians without distinction,” said the 48-year-old businessman.
Haiti has been without an elected head of state ever since Michel Martelly left office in February last year and Moise acknowledged that the victory at the polls, which had been postponed on several occasions “was not an easy battle.
“But I have a soul of competitor, all of you who fought for Haiti, I tell you tonight it is Haiti that won,” he said, adding “I would need your experience, your competence and dedication to work together, so that each Haitian has to eat on his plate and money in his pockets to build together the Haiti that every Haitian dreams. I will work for Haiti, to have a better Haiti”.
Moise said that the victory is “also the victory of our republican institutions, the women and the men who make them live.
“This victory is the victory of the youth of the country who are in search of training, employment and leisure spaces. It is the victory of democracy, it’s the roof of the political maturity of the Haitian people and their aspiration for a well-being.
“It is the beginning of a new way of doing politics with a great “P” .It is also a new way to enter the history with a great “H”. We have to do politics differently, a policy that is seeking happiness for all, which gathers and works for the greatness of the common country, which prioritizes the superior interests of the nation over the particular interests.”
Haiti is still recovering from a battering by Hurricane Matthew.
Haiti is recovering from the battering it took from Hurricane Matthew in October last year, an outbreak of Cholera and an earthquake that more than six years ago that left several thousand people dead and Moise said Haitians must change their behaviour to face the future, adding “we are going to put our fingerprints on the national destiny, we are going to write a new page of history.
“Tonight we send a strong signal to the whole world, we are determined to consolidate the republican values that unite us as a free and independent people, we are more than ever resolved to strengthen the social ties that ensure the permanence of the Nation as a bloc unitary and indivisible.”
He said that the five-year presidential mandate entrusted to him will have as a mission “the active will and the vigilant pragmatism opposed to the ambient immobilism, because we must emerge from this inertia. “The reforms, projects and programmes needed to improve the living conditions of the population will be implemented. I would be the President of all Haitians without any distinctions.”
Moise pledge to work to strengthen “our republican institutions and consolidate democracy in the country,” noting that the “vote of November 20 indicates the willingness of the people to return to the constitutional order that will enable the country to play its full role on the international scene.
“My administration will work with friendly countries and international partners. Cooperation with friendly countries and technical and financial partners will be strengthened,” he said, adding that the “date of February 7, 2017 will mark a decisive turning point in the management of the affairs of the nation”.
He promised to launch the “Sectoral General States of the Nation” at the start of his five year term, promising “we will build a national consensus on the stakes of national development and create permanent communication bridges between the various elites of the country, economic, political, intellectual and peasant, enabling them to approach the future with confidence, to transmit to the generation of tomorrow a pact for progress and the country”.
Moise said he would also work with all the elected representatives towards “a proud and prosperous Haiti.
“The time of dithering with the interests of the nation is over. It is time for the diaspora to participate in the economic, social and political development of the country,” he told the nation. (CMC)
