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