The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE administration of President Jovenel Moise struck a raw nerve with the Haitian people when it announced that fuel prices would be increasing.

Haitian looters and vandals are doing their country no favours by tearing apart their country. Thousands of Haitians are calling for the resignation of Moise, who has only been in high office since February 2017. Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant’s decision to roll back increases in fuel has done little to halt the rioting. Rioters are determined to vent.

Understandably, citizens of the Western hemisphere’s poorest nation are frustrated. Nearly 25 percent of Haitians live on less than $1.25 a day, while another 59 percent live on less than $2 a day. Haiti’s GDP growth slowed from 1.5 percent in 2016 to 1.2 percent in 2017.

About 25 percent of Haiti’s 11 million people live without electricity. Approximately 50 percent of the Haitian population use unsanitary water. Only 50 percent of Haitian children attend school. An estimated 100,000 Haitian toddlers are malnourished. Approximately 30 percent of the overall population is considered food insecure. And according to the Borgen Project, Haiti ranks fourth on the CIA World Factbook for income inequality.

In Haiti, the top 20 percent of households hold a staggering 64 percent of the nation’s wealth. Included in this wealthy demographic is former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

According to several Internet sites, including The Richest, Aristide has an estimated net worth of $800m. Aristide reportedly owns a $2m house in Taiwan. He is considered to be the 32nd richest politician in the world and the richest Haitian president in history.

If this information is accurate, it would mean that the former Haitian president has more money than the entire Bahamian parliament combined. It would also be another glaring example of the wide gap between the haves and the have nots in Haiti.

Vocal human right activists Fred Smith and Louby Georges should petition Amnesty International concerning this gaping wealth disparity in Haiti.

Seeing that Smith has a stubborn habit of threatening to report Bahamian governments to Amnesty and other human rights organisations over perceived wrongs committed against the Haitian community, he should have no qualms reporting the Aristide matter.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport,

Grand Bahama,

July 10, 2018.