By Yilgak'ha
Haiti has a unique place in world history. It is the first and only black republic in the western world. The country is situated on the Hispaniola/Caribbean Islands and occupies approximately 10,640.98 square miles of land and 73.36 square miles of water. The history of the people is traceable to West Africans when they were imported as slaves to produce raw materials for international commerce (Institute for Haitian Studies, n.a).
With an estimated population of about 11.54 million people, the nation is the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. World Bank (2021) provided statistics to support this submission saying that with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per Capita of US$1,149. 50 and Human Development Index (HDI) ranking of 170 out of 187 country, the country remains the poorest in Latin America and Caribbean region and amongst the poorest in the world.
The first time I heard of Haiti was January 12, 2010 when the country witnessed on of the most devastating earthquake in human history. The calamity which befell the country is described as "a magnitude 7.0 earthquake" brought untold hardship on the country's citizens and bewilderment of the world. More generally, Haiti has gone through unmatched decades of socio - economic, political contradictions which has generated global attention. These problems were not without causes.
Some of the challenging experiences Haiti has experienced in her chequered history include vulnerability to natural disaster (earthquake); colonialism, weak government institutions as well as as haphazard flow of foreign intervention via aids from Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs). I permit me to add what I called, untamed spiritism.
History has it that Haiti like developing countries when through protracted colonisation, occupation and exploitative experience with countries like Spain, France and the United States. Formally called, Saint Dominique, it became independent on January 1, 1804 and was renamed Haiti. The country lead what is described as the largest and most successful slave rebellion in the western world (Sutherland, 2007).
Before the 2010 earthquake, the country had had recurrent cases of earthquakes which occurred in 1751, 1770, 1842 and 1946. The most devastating was that of 2010 which was reported to have involved about 250,000 lives lose; 300,000 people injured and also about 1.5 million people who were forced to live in makeshift camps under heavy distress (World Bank, 2021). It was one of the worse humanitarian crisis in human history after a similar one in Pakistan in 2005 and have attracted substantial global interventions.
It was reported that despite the challenging operational environment, approximately 4 Million people benefited from food assistance, emergency shelter materials destributed to 1.5 Million people; safe water made available to 1.2 million people and another 1Million benefited from from cash-for-work initiative donor agencies (Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC), 2010). Several other interventions we received however, the situation in Haiti were still itchy and part of the reasons could be institutional corruption.
Spiritism is another challenge. Haiti is a primarily a Catholic Christian Republic but known for the practice of Syncretism, a religious practice that embraces many belief systems. During the 2010 earthquake American Evangelical Christian, Pat Robertson insinuated that God was angry with Haitians because they have sold their souls to the Devil in pursuit of material gains (Faustian bargain).
Whether the insinuation is tenable or not is a subject debate. However, I stumbled on a book, "Salt of the Earth" which suggests that a people whose affairs are dictated by ancestral spirit world cannot build functional institutions. Let me cite it verbatim, "let us think of the fact that in Africa belief in spirits continues to be a great obstacle to the development of the land and to the construction of a modern economic organisation"(Joseh Cardinal Ratzinger, Former Pope, Pope Benedict the XVI, in an interview with Peter Seewald, 1997, P. 23).
The Pope puts it authoritatively that it is a 'fact' even though the emphasis was on Africa. Whichever, Haitians have African root, they originated from a continent where a sizeable proportion of the citizenry believe strongly in ancestral spirits and rely on them for empowerment and direction. It is important to note here that fetish practitioners do not believe in rules but manipulative capacity to circumvent due process(es) with the sole aim of gaining undue advantage(s) at the expense of the state and/or citizens.
The weak institutional framework which cannot guarantee good governance is evident in Haiti. This is clearly shown in the country's inability to prevent any reoccurrence or preparedness to respond to subsequent occurrences. A Country like Chile has been noted to have shown better preparedness than Haiti (NBC News). The military was said to be assisting greatly but with the dismantling of the country's national army by Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s presidency without transfering their disaster management capabilities to civilian public institutions things went awry (The Conversation, 2021). This has left the country vulnerable with another earthquake occuring in 2012 and 2016.
Another classical manifestation of weak institutional framework in the country is in the area of power succession. The emergence of unstable governments in Haiti been a recurrent decimal for over four decades and it is a hard nut to crack. This has weakened the central administration with telling constitutional crisis that is currently engulfing the country.
The most worrisome manifestation of institutional weakness is the current political lockjam in Haiti. Following the assassination of the President, Joverel Moise on July 7, 2021, a serious constitutional and political crisis ensued. This is because the Late President appointed the country's Foreign Affairs and Religious Minister, Joseph Claude as the new Prime Minister (PM) before his dead, following the resignation of the former Acting PM, Joseph Jouthe on April 4, 2021 but the new appointees was yet to be cleared by the parliament.
Curiously, there is presently no parliamentary arm of government in Haiti to function as the tenure of the parliamentarians had expired with no election duly held until September. A vacuum has been created in the office of the PM of the country and there is an urgent need for it. The duo of Joseph Jouthe and Joseph Claude are laying claims to the office. This is the dicy delimma the country is facing. Although the international community especially the United Nation and the United States of America (USA) have recognised Joseph Jouthe the is palpable tension in the land.
The government and people of Haiti are at the brink. It will take genuine statemanship and state craft to manage the crisis. In the interim, a two weeks state of emergency has been declared in the nation. What Haiti needs to do in this current circumstances is that the political actors must quickly learnt to sacrifice their personal ambitions for the sake of the country. The situation in Haiti is an abnormal one and so the solution must be abnormal too. It is a very difficult challenge but certainly not an impossible one to manage.
*Lessons for Nigerian*
The experience of Haiti is largely a metaphor for Nigeria's historical experience. The differences are only but few. Haiti is situated in Caribbean/Latin America; Nigeria is in Africa. Haiti is small sized and less populated; Nigeria has a large sized (923,769 kilometre Squares) and highly populated with 207 million people; Haiti is small sized and not highly populated. Nigeria is one of the most naturally endowed countries in the world; Haiti has no clear history of natural resource endowment; Nigeria is relatively free with isolated cases of droughts and floodings in parts of the country; Haiti is supceptible to natural disasters. This comparism should have given Nigeria clear advantage but to no avail.
What Nigeria shared in common with Haiti are that both countries are blacks. They shared similar colonial and neo-colonial experiences. Both countries have comparatively weak administrative institutions; both countries are largely religious and their citizens living in abject poverty.
Throughout out history, the major problems Nigeria went through even now are human induced. The country's experience with colonialism, civil war, June 12, institutional corruption and insecurity are all triggered by human tendencies which can be reversed through sheer determination and commitment.
I have always argued that colonialism is actually a setback to Nigeria's development but continuous lamentation over the experience sixty (60) years after it became independent is the laziest thing to do. Colonialism is never a death sentence to nations which passed through it. History is agoged with countries which emerged from shattering colonial experiences to be great. The United States of America (USA) was colonised by Britain; today it is the most powerful nation on earth and the police of the world. Japan colonised India; today India is a huge source support for Japan in the area of Information Communication Technology (ICT) services. South Africa emerged from de-humanising Apartheid regime to be a leading nation in Africa in the area of politics and economy! The list is long, you can think of many other countries in this regard. In fact, if limited or no colonialism were to be ticket for prosperity, Ethiopia would have perhaps been the most prosperous nation in the universe.
It should be noted also that natural disaster is not a death sentence either. Countries like Ireland which went through unimaginable hunger and starvation (1845-1849); Rwanda pased treacherous genocide experience between April 7 and July 15, 1994 with 800,000 slaughtered; Israel which suffered the Nazi threat of extinction in 1941 with 6 Million lives destroyed; years of locus Brazil and Agentinafrom as well as Dubai which was founded on a very dry desert caused by natural occurrences yet bounced back stronger and are doing exceeding well in every area of human endeavour!
It is instructive to note here that nations are organic and the journey to Nationhood is a process. The process is not a straight jacket path but an andulating one where there is eminent chances of falling and rising. It is a continuum which could be thorny and daunting.
The strength of any country is measured by it ability to overcome it most challenging experiences. Only weak nations could fall and resigned to fate with endless lamentation and blame games which did not redeem Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. When there are problems or possibility of one happening (make no mistake about it there shall always be!), it is the responsibility of state actors to mobilise available resources, 'state craft' and capabilities to tackle it. The most responsible action any nation could take in this regard is to study or review situations with the view to finding enduring solutions. A nation could also be proactive to evolve preventive measures eve before any potential national problem(s) occur.
Nigeria is seriously lagging behind in the area of practivity. For example warning signs could given regarding eminent flooding or security breaches but actions will not be taken untill the worst happened. The only time to know how proactive an average leader could be is when there is glaring threat of impeachment or a matter involving personal risk of those at the corridors of power and their crannies. That is the Nigerian leadership story!
The leadership structure in Nigeria is about the individuals in power and not the state institutions. The country's institutions are very weak. Heads of institutions in Nigeria are the instructions in the Louis the XIV of France's, "I am the State" fashion! The opinions of those at the helms of affairs are final even if those views are antithetical to the survival of the institution or state as a whole. Their names are louder than those of the institutions they control. This is an abnormality; a complete deviation from global best practices. For instance, you might be in the USA for years without necessarily knowing who the head of police of the country is not to talk of his name but the institution he controls!
The main hypothesis of this discourse is that a nation whose institutions are weak and epileptic cannot achieve much. Such states are at risk of degenerating into failed states except something urgent is done to reverse the situation. The impressive progress development and emerging economies like USA, Germany, Britain, Japan, etc, and emerging economies like China, India, Singapore etc. are making, is attributed to constitutionalism and institutional strengthening.
The lesson that can be learnt from the perennial problems of Haiti generally and its current constitutional crisis in particular is that when a nation default in proactively marshalling out political will to solve its problems, it is sure to fail. Nigeria, like Haiti is 'dancing on the brink' of utter collapse especially if it failed to take advantage of the current constitutional review process to address its most pressing national questions which includes issues of restructuring in the light of seccesion threats; state policing in the light of insecurity; fiscal federalism in the light bad governance and autonomy for local governments in the light of institutional weakness and the tendencies for dictatorship.
It is important for Nigerians to note that being religious does not necessarily convey prosperity on the country especially when the practice of religion is compounded by fetish and occultic motivations. To say the least, Syncretism as it is practised in Haiti is a direct invitation to choas. A man or a people cannot delinked themselves from the belief systems. A nation whose people are nurtured by contradictory belief systems may not build a vibrant nation. Nigeria is our only heritage, and if it collapsed, where do we go to? A foodforethought for all of us. God day Nigeria!
*(Modest Thoughts with Ayuba Yilgak'ha, July 12, 2021; SMS: 0811816263; Email: loisayuba420@gmail.com)*
*References*
1. Sutherland, C. (2007). Haitian Revolution 1791-1804. http://www.blackpast.org/global-africa-history/haitian-revolution-1791-1804.
2. Macro trends (2021). Haitian population growth rate 1950-2021.http://www.macrotrends.net/countries/HTI/haiti/population-growth-rate.
3. Peter, L. (1997). Salt of the Earth. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
4. World Bank (2021). The World Bank in Haiti. http://world bank.org/country/haiti/overview.
5. IASC (2010). Response to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti. AISC 6Months Report.
6. Institute of Haitian Studies (n.a). Haiti: A brief history of a complex nation. http://haitianstudies.uk.edu/haiti-history
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