Senator Desras, the president of the Haitian Senate

Senator Desras has decided not to sign the El Rancho agreement -even after President Martelly has published in the country’s gazette, Le Moniteur, the names of 7 of the 10 judges designated by the Senate to permanently sit in the Superior Court of Auditors.

The ball is now in the senator’s court. If the president does not publish all the names, because he has reasonable doubts and objections on the qualifications of 3 of the 10 judges, does that mean the nation must come to a standstill for that? I do not think so.

The president’s action to publish 7 of the 10 names attest to his political will to be part of the solution, not the problem. All Senator Desras needs to do now -if he wants to show that he is not a destabilizing figure -is to get with his peers in the Senate to choose 3 other members with proper credentials to complete the list. I don’t see what the big deal is.

Senator Desras is dragging his feet because he knows Monsignor Langlois will be traveling to the Vatican on the 22nd of this month to be anointed Cardinal by Pope Francis, meaning he will not have that much time to dedicate to the negotiations anymore.

Desras needs to stop being a caucus leader so he could start being a statesman [a person who exhibits great wisdom and ability in directing the affairs of the state or in dealing with important public issues, according to Webster]. It is time that he makes such a distinction.

As president of the Senate, he is in this position because of his leadership [I presume] to lead the Great Corps. So as a leader, he needs to do what is right, not what his Lavalas caucus tells him to do.

I learnt that his decision not to show up at El Rancho Saturday afternoon for the signature of the agreement -when Monsignor Langlois, President Martelly and the representatives of the political parties were waiting on him -has been largely influenced by the members of his Lavalas caucus in the Senate.

The nation and the international community must take note that Senator Desras has stopped the process with his intransigence. He is the person who must be held responsible for anything that may happen up to now. He is placing partisanship and ideology over the prime interests of the country.