HAITI MONTHLY: POLITICAL, JUNE, 2009

UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 000636 SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/EX AND WHA/CAR S/CRS INL FOR KEVIN BROWN, DIANNE GRAHAM AND MEAGAN MCBRIDE SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR INR/IAA WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV HA PREL SUBJECT: HAITI MONTHLY: POLITICAL, JUNE, 2009 ¶1. (U) This message is sensitive but unclassified -- please protect accordingly. . (U) Summary: This is a monthly report on various topics of interest which do not merit a full reporting cable. End summary. ¶3. (SBU) DISCUSSIONS REPORTEDLY CONTINUE ON TAIWANESE ASSISTANCE TO TE HAITIAN PARLIAMENT. Two months after Senate Pesident Kely Bastien led a delegation to Taiwan,discussions reportedly continue between Taiwan and the Haitian Parliament on Taiwan's possible construction of a complex of legislative buildings to house sessions of Parliament and offices for senators, deputies, and staff. Senator Bastien first announced the project upon his return from Taiwan in May, and unconfirmed rumors are circulating in Parliament that Taiwan has offered to spend as much as USD 50 million ) a figure that we judge is almost certainly exaggerated ) on the buildings and that every senator and deputy will have his or her own office. We have not seen an official announcement from Taiwan on the project. This is the latest example of Taiwan's robust assistance program in Haiti that includes food donations, technical assistance educational exchanges and road building. ¶4. (U) PUBLIC SPEAKS OUT ON LOCAL ISSUES. At the request of Chamber of Deputies President Levaillant Louis Jeune, USAID local government implementing partner, LOKAL, and local leaders organized ''town hall'' meetings in early June on a draft decentralization law currently before Parliament. The town hall, held in Louis Jeune's district of Desdunes, Artibonite Department was attended by hundreds of residents who highlighted the importance of employment, sanitation, potable water and improved infrastructure as critical to their communities' development. The draft local government framework law (''Loi Cadre'') is currently before Parliament for review. The law, if enacted, would define local governmental authority, including authorizing greater local government control of revenue generated locally and streamlining multiple layers of local government representation. It will likely produce lively debate and take considerable time before passing. ¶5. (U) HOSPITAL ON STRIKE. Doctors and health workers at the Hospital of the State University of Haiti went on strike beginning the week of July 6 to protest sanitary and working conditions. Since auxiliary workers have not been paid for months, garbage has accumulated, causing unsanitary conditions including, according to doctors quoted in the press, ''bad odors and flies'' and syringes and blood vials discarded in hallways. This is the latest in a series of health sector strikes that began late last year over unpaid wages. It is symptomatic of government mismanagement and under financing of the public sector. Public school teachers have also frequently gone on strike to protest wage arrears. TIGHE