I just read this in Time magazine and feel compelled to post it. R’n’B star Wyclef Jean is thinking about running to be President of Haiti. I know very little about Haiti. I’ve never been there and I wouldn’t dare suggest to the Haitian people how they should run their country. I also know nothing about Wyclef Jean.
But, doesn’t this seem like an awful idea?
Haiti is still suffering hugely because of the earthquake. There’s definitely a role for Jean, as an ambassador, an ombudsman, and international face for his nation. But for a musician to be President of a country is daft. What qualifications does he have? Has he any experience in running a country? Has he any experience running anything? No. He’s a singer.
There may be some constitutional questions over the viability of his run. Under Haitan law, one must have resided in Haiti for five consecutive years, owns property in the country and has never been a citizen of any country other than Haiti. Jean was born in Haiti, left at age 9 and was raised in New York City.
The filing deadline is Friday, August 7th and he’d run as a member of the one-year-old party Ensemble Nous Faut.
If he ran, would he win? I think so.
About half of Haiti's population is between the ages of 15 and 29. He’d have endless money behind him, a recognizable name and face and is seen as a champion in Haiti. Haitian Sydney Meristal, 23, is quoted in the Time article: "Wyclef loves Haiti. He has ideas for Haiti," says Meristal. "If Wyclef decides to run, he'll win."
Another young man, Steve Burr-Renauld, 23, says he would not vote for Jean because he doesn't have the credentials to run the poorest country in the western hemisphere. "What if [rapper] Jay-Z became President of the United States? That would never happen," says Burr-Renauld. "We already took a bullet in the knee after the earthquake. If Wyclef were President, we would be taking a bullet to the head."
If he runs, it’ll certainly be an interesting election.
when Imran Khan ran to be president of Pakistan everyone in the West thougt he’d storm it - national hero, articulate etc and his party didn’t win a seat so while Pakistan and Haiti are massively different, it just shows that stardom doesn’t necessarily count at the ballott box.
I read an article about this to and was left a little perplexed. I haven’t seen his political CV but it does seem like the next level up from Bono!
He was born in Haiti and created a foundation to raise money and awareness: http://www.yele-haiti.org/
But that’s not all:
“In January 2007, Jean became a roving ambassador for Haiti, to help improve its image abroad.[26]
May 20, 2008 – Yéle Haiti partnered with WFP (World Food Programme) of the United Nations to launch http://www.togetherforhaiti.org
September, 2008 – Wyclef in conjunction with Yéle Haiti Charity delivered food to Hurricane Ike victims in Haiti. Matt Damon provided assistance in the food lines serving food.
Oct 23, 2008 – Wyclef Jean performed on stage with Carlos Santana in San Francisco on behalf of Yéle Haiti, OneXOne, and WaterPartners International to raise funds for clean water, education, health, environment, and community development in the USA and in the developing world.
In 2009, Wyclef Jean and The Timberland Company joined forces to help raise environmental awareness in Haiti. This duo “will be a multi-platform effort incorporating Timberland products, digital and social media, service events, music, and concerts that will promote environmental awareness.” The campaign will push to support and educate the country as well as helping to improve health care and the environment, and the community.
Wyclef Jean also plans to spread information about the joint efforts through social media outlets such as “Twitter, YouTube, Myspace, Facebook, imeem, and Social Vibe.”[27] He also aims to use social networking websites to help raise money to build the Yéle Center.[17]
In January 2010, along with his uncle Raymond Joseph, Haitian ambassador to the US, Wyclef issued an appeal for international aid following the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake.”
Having read this, it’s not a surprise that he is putting himself forward. Nobody has experience of running a country before actually doing it. And being a singer can’t be held against him, he’s got a lot of passion for his country and experience in raising awareness, so it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea to me.
But he is now already being accused of corruption - using money from the Yéle Foundation for his own benefits. What if he is a nation’s leader with a lot more power and money?
Interesting points Lara and Hanna. The corruption question is certainly an important one. I guess we’ll know one way or the other by Saturday, when the deadline for nominations closes.
Oh, Clare, great post! I remember reading about in the recent weekend edition of Irish Times
@ Lara: I observed Wyclef Jean’s Haiti efforts from the very start. His Haiti involvement with Yele wasn’t that spectacular before the tragic earthquake ( I remember verifying his previous work on the day of the earthquake). However what first was sheer self-promotion:
http://twitter.com/WYCLEFJEAN
seems to have become soon genuine intentions of help:
http://twitter.com/WYCLEF
Does it make him the best candidate for presidency of Haiti though?
IT’S CONFRIMED. He’s going to run for the President of Haiti. He confirmed to Time today, that he’s going to announce tomorrow.
It’s gonna be an interesting election…
@Helena: I read the IT piece too.
Clare, such a pity such an amazing talent wouldn’t keep on entertain us! Look at the Norwegian family bouncing here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atzt6n1WhR8&feature=related
*Norwegian Royal Family
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/08/18/haiti.wyclef.bid/index.html?hpt=T2#fbid=mrYYGFMU_Ov&wom=false
Clare, it’s confirmed now - Wyclef is out of the race.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/08/19/2010-08-19_wyclef_jean_not_on_official_list_of_approved_candidates_in_haitis_presidential_e.html
Lovely post, anyway!
Yikes! That happened fast. I was in Malaysia and so out of the loop on the news. I’m a little relieved to be honest. Thanks for keeping me posted Helena.
I really liked the post. Great work
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Well, that was definitely a quick decision! I had a feeling that the country of Haiti was not going to allow him to run. Yes, he is a large supporter of Haiti, but he is an American and has been since a child. He probably would have won though.