Rebuilding Haiti: Politics in the time of cholera | The Economist
Can an untimely but necessary election break the vicious circle in which the
urgent overwhelms the important?
The Economist, Nov 18th 2010
SO OFTEN in Haiti urgent problems?mudslides that bury towns, storms that
wash houses out to sea or spikes in food prices?and chronic political
instability have conspired to subvert efforts to lay the basis for sustained
development. The earthquake last January that devastated the capital,
Port-au-Prince, was supposed to have changed that. It inspired promises by
world leaders to put Haiti on a more solid footing, backed by pledges of
billions of dollars, and an ambitious, if vague, reconstruction plan from
the government. But the earthquake has made Haiti even more vulnerable:
witness the escalating cholera epidemic that in the past few weeks has
claimed more than 1,100 lives.
Haiti is trapped in an especially vicious circle. More than 1m people still
live in squalid tent camps in or around the capital and their continued
exposure to the elements and disease precipitates emergencies that distract
policymakers from reconstruction and resettlement. A general election due on
November 28th adds another layer of complication. Understandably, Haitians
are more scared of cholera than enamoured of their politicians. A lacklustre
campaign may culminate in an unusually low turnout.
The electoral authority insists that the vote will go ahead. But it cannot
without security and logistical help from Minustah, the United Nations
mission in Haiti. And the UN has itself come under fire over the cholera
outbreak. After a sudden surge in cholera cases in the north of the country,
two people died this week in violent demonstrations against the UN in
Cap-Ha?tien, Haiti?s second city. Six UN personnel were injured in a similar
protest in Hinche. Many Haitians reckon that Nepalese peacekeepers
introduced the cholera virus (it is a South Asian strain). The UN denies
this, and claims that the protests were election-related. In any event, they
halted aid flights and a water-chlorination campaign.
Doctors say that cholera has not yet peaked and is likely to last months, if
not years. Postponing the election would merely prolong a political limbo
that is causing delay or inaction among donors, investors and even
government officials. Candidates have continued to hold rallies and
broadcast radio ads.
For the first time in Haiti?s two decades of patchy democracy, there is no
clear front-runner for president among the 19 candidates, and the contest is
likely to go to a run-off, due on January 16th. That may be between Jude
C?lestin, who runs the state construction agency and is the prot?g? of Ren?
Pr?val, the current president, and Mirlande Manigat, whose husband, Leslie,
was president for four months between two military governments in 1988. Ms
Manigat, who describes herself as of the moderate left and wants to rein in
Haiti?s thousands of NGOs, is ahead in some polling. Mr C?lestin may be hurt
by Mr Pr?val?s low-key response to the quake, which has made him unpopular.
Whoever wins will inherit a country overwhelmed. Cholera?s effects go beyond
the death toll. They are compounding Haiti?s other woes. Farmers and
fishermen in Grand?Anse, a verdant department that was hit badly by a recent
hurricane, have seen sales plummet as customers spurn local foodstuffs.
Potential investors are also being scared off by cholera, even though it can
be easily prevented with good sanitation and clean drinking water (or
treated by oral rehydration). Textile buyers called off a forum scheduled
for this week, according to Gregor Avril of the manufacturers? association.
The International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank, postponed a
meeting to discuss special economic zones. Hoping to quell fears among its
well-heeled clientele, the capital?s fanciest restaurant has emblazoned its
menu with ?Everything is Imported?. All this has prompted government
economists to reduce their estimates for economic growth.
The immediate priority remains taming an epidemic that in the past fortnight
has got out of control. Health workers have struggled to find sites for
treatment centres where cholera patients can be segregated, because of
neighbours? fears of contagion. The mayor of St Marc, where cholera first
appeared, authorised a centre last month. But when M?decins Sans Fronti?res,
a medical charity, prepared to open it, protesters attacked with rocks. The
mayor withdrew his support. As a result, St Marc?s hospital has been
inundated with cholera cases, obliging other patients to go elsewhere. In
Carrefour, a suburb of the capital, the mayor has refused to allow outsiders
to seek help at its treatment centre, despite cajoling by national
officials.
Aid workers hope that local leaders will start to see treatment centres as
an asset. The government has at last begun a concerted campaign to educate
Haitians about cholera and its treatment. This has included Mr Pr?val?s
appearance on a four-hour television programme?the most his people have seen
of their reclusive president in years. Fighting cholera, like
reconstruction, needs a legitimate and effective government. Irrelevant
though it may at first seem, the election matters too.