The politics of citizenship

[DPean]

Southlake businessman still eyes Haiti's top job

08:00 AM CDT on Monday, October 3, 2005


By TRACEY EATON / The Dallas Morning News


PORT-AU-PRINCE – His detractors say he's an American citizen and has no business running for president of Haiti.

But Dumarsais Siméus, the wealthy chairman of a Mansfield, Texas, food-processing company, says he's determined to stay in the Nov. 20 race, despite being told by Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council that his U.S. citizenship bars him from running.

Mr. Siméus said he qualifies because he never gave up his Haitian citizenship. He has appealed the council's decision and vows to fight to save his candidacy.

"I will take this fight to the Supreme Court because this movement is committed to doing whatever it takes to ensure that every Haitian has the right to choose their next leader," Mr. Siméus said in a radio address Fri
day.

Some Haitians struggling to keep the country from descending into complete bedlam say that Mr. Siméus ought to be given a chance.

"The presidency of Haiti is such a hard job, it should be advertised as an international position," said Leslie Voltaire, education minister under former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. "We should open it up to the best-qualified person in the world."


Background

Mr. Siméus, 65, certainly has credentials. Born to illiterate peasants in the Haitian countryside, he journeyed to the United States in 1961, put himself through college and worked at Atari Inc. and other companies around the world before creating Siméus Foods International, now the largest black-owned business in Texas.

"Let's be real," Mr. Siméus said recently, sitting at a restaurant next to the swimming pool at the posh Villa Creole hotel in Pétionville, his unofficial headquarters in an upscale Port-au-Prince neighborhood. "Haiti is broken. The debate should be over h
ow we put together the optimum team to move this country forward. Forget about whether a candidate lives in Haiti or not. We need the best sons and daughters of Haiti to come save it."

Indeed, Haiti is a mess.

More than half the population subsists on less than $1 per day. Millions have no clean drinking water, and more than 70 percent no electricity. Government institutions provide few services and have little control over 60 percent of the nation's territory. Gangs hold sway over large swaths of densely populated slums in Port-au-Prince. And earlier this year, murders, kidnappings and assaults hit their highest level in the capital since 1994.

This is the nation Mr. Siméus wants to lead.

But under Article 135 of the Haitian Constitution, candidates for president must be Haitian citizens who have lived in Haiti continuously for five years before running for president. Mr. Siméus has been living in Southlake, Texas, and it doesn't appear he is eligible, said James Morrell, di
rector of the Haiti Democracy Project, a Washington, D.C., research group.

"But," Mr. Morrell asked, "why be a stickler about this? His qualifications are certainly there. He's shown the ability to make things work."


A leap?

Others wonder how he would make the transition from his cushy Southlake lifestyle to the gritty, often murderous world of Haitian politics. And they ask how running a company that makes sausage links and nacho dip qualifies one to be a political leader.

Charles-Henri Baker, a Haitian businessman who is also vying for the presidency, questioned whether Mr. Siméus knows what's been going on in his native land.

"How can he really understand what occurs in Haiti? With what he sees on the Internet?" Mr. Baker told a Miami radio station in August.

Mr. Siméus brushes aside such talk.

"I respect all those candidates who are running. I believe they are patriotic. However, I don't think any of them match the credentials I bring to the c
ampaign."

While Mr. Siméus was barred because of his U.S. citizenship, other candidates were rejected mostly because they submitted incomplete paperwork, officials said. The council rejected 22 candidates in all.

Another candidate, the Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste, a prominent figure in ex-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas Party, was barred because he has been jailed on suspicion of involvement in the abduction and slaying of a local journalist. Mr. Jean-Juste has denied the accusations.


Approved candidates

The 32 approved candidates include two presumed front-runners: former President Rene Preval, a one-time close ally of Mr. Aristide, and Marc Bazin, a former prime minister.

If no one wins more than half the vote, runoffs will be held Jan. 3.

As president, Mr. Siméus said he would:

"Make sure that all the kids who want to go to school can go. Make sure they have at least one meal a day to eat. Make sure you have a government that really serves
the people. And I'd make sure I bring hope to Haiti. It's a country with a lot of misery."

Kimberly Siméus, the candidate's 46-year-old wife, said she's not surprised her husband decided to run for president.

"He loves his country so much," she said. "This isn't about power or a title. I think he wants a legacy in his life."



Political marketing

Simon Fass, a University of Texas at Dallas professor and author of Political Economy in Haiti: The Drama of Survival, said that Mr. Siméus' chances "depend a lot on how he markets himself, and how much money he is willing to invest in political marketing."

Mr. Fass said poor Haitians might find his rags-to-riches story appealing. But, he added, he isn't convinced that Mr. Siméus will do anything different or new.

Mr. Siméus, a former adviser to Mr. Aristide, said he is paving new ground, raising funds from supporters in Haiti and abroad lest anyone accuse him of trying to buy the election.

He is al
so trying to build alliances in Haiti, which has been deeply divided, particularly since Mr. Aristide's forced departure in 2004.

"From all the feedback I've gotten, our candidacy has shaken up the political establishment," he said.

Still, many ordinary Haitians haven't heard of Mr. Siméus.

"We don't really know him," said Jean-Réné Auguste, 42, a teacher in Port-au-Prince.

"He's been gone for 40 years," said another man, Ernso Talius, 25. "He doesn't know the reality of Haiti, the problems of Haiti."

Arielle Jean-Baptiste, an associate with the Haiti Democracy Project, agreed.

"He's a stranger," she said. "He has no footprints here."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Dumarsais Siméus

Age: 65


Place of birth: Pont-Sonde, Haiti


Education: bachelor's degree, Howard University; master's in business administration, University of Chicago


Experience: Worked at Atari Inc. and other compa
nies including the now-defunct TLC Beatrice Foods, where he rose to president. Started Siméus Foods with the help of a $55 million loan in 1996, according to Black Enterprise magazine. The company supplies such firms as Burger King, T.G.I. Friday's, Quizno's Subs and Hardee's.


Marital Status: Married to Kimberly Siméus, a former human resources employee for Unilever


Quote: "The people are connecting with our message. We need security. We need to create jobs. We need to send children to school. All the people of Haiti are ready for that. And that's why they are going to elect us president of the country."

[Leonel Jean-Baptiste*]

I wanted to laugh with the kids will at least have one meal a day... No one knows if it's with sausages or cheese dipping! But, hey, one meal a day is enough for the 2500 calories required.

One does not need to be President to feed the Kids daily.

A la de zen, papa!

Pour la Patrie, marchons unis.

leonel

[Frantz*]

I really think that I need a new pair of eyglasses. I cannot believe that I just read above;
"The presidency of Haiti is such a hard job, it should be advertised as an international position," said Leslie Voltaire, education minister under former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. "We should open it up to the best-qualified person in the world."

What? It must be a joke; "advertising the presidency as an international position''. Ok some of you failed to correctly manage the country's affairs but it does not mean that it cannot be managed by other Haitians. To borrow a quote from JAF, I also believe : "Marx is fine but Boukman is mine"

padel

[Marcien Toussaint*]

Sir,

If you think that Leslie Voltaire is the only one who thinks this way, I would say you ain't heard anything outrageous yet!


Se pa ni yonn ni de moun k ap pale sou Fowòm sa ki lè mwen li opinyon yo nan souzantandi ke w pa di men ke mwen detèkte ki pap ezite yon sekond livre Ayiti pi mal ke jan li deja ye a ba Blan Ameriken.

We are talking about people who are ready to shop around with their credentials just like Siméus, crying stupidly, reasoning illogically about the political situation in Haiti while asserting that they are willing to help. To make matter worse, they don't even give a damn about the fact that they are no longer Haitians, but still are strongly determined to rule Haitians just like the White masters wanted to rule Haiti. They do not give a damn about Constitution and law as long as they want the Presidency. Isn't this amazing!

Mwen pap souke tèt mwen ak lapenn. They just want to
learn the hard way. Lese yo fè! Se sa grangran mwen konn di! Enben, jodya mwen gen kouray pou mwen di tou: Lese yo fè!

Adjova.

[DPean]

We are talking about people who are ready to shop around with their credentials just like Siméus, crying stupidly, reasoning illogically about the political situation in Haiti while asserting that they are willing to help. To make matter worse, they don't even give a damn about the fact that they are no longer Haitians, but still are strongly determined to rule Haitians just like the White masters wanted to rule Haiti. They do not give a damn about Constitution and law as long as they want the Presidency. Isn't this amazing!

According to that quote, only the wealthy Haitians, the only ones who do not really have to leave Haiti, should have anything to say about Haiti. We have a country, which does not have anything to offer to its citizens. The only way for many Haitians to better their lives is to leave. In many situations, for diferent reasons, they need to change their citizenships. Since a
lot of what happens in Haiti are decided in foreign capitals, like Washington and Paris and so on, the Haitians with foreign citizenships are more in a position to affect what happens in their country of origin than those in Haiti. They can vote and write to their congressmen and that can make a difference in Haiti. The Haitian Americans played a crucial role in the restoration of democracy in Haiti and the return of Aristide in 1994. For that reason, Mr Toussaint thinks they should be excluded from decision making in Haiti so that the Haitian oligarchy can stay in charge and incompetence can be the rule of the game. What a demagogue!

[Michel Nau*]

Dpean wrote:

Mr. Toussaint thinks they should be excluded from decision making in Haiti so that the Haitian oligarchy can stay in charge and incompetence can be the rule of the game. What a demagogue!

I don’t believe that Marcien thinks they (Nationalized Haitians)should be excluded from decision making in Haiti so that the Haitian oligarchy can stay in charge and incompetence can be the rule of the game.
What I believe is that the Haitian status quo, the “Conservatists”, those who always stay in Haiti and fight regardless of the circumstances, those who “pa jam kitè peyi yo pou y’al chachè la vi miyo” felt “disrespected by Simeus who after 40 years of leave of absence, came back with a do or die attitude and approach to access the presidential seat of the poorest country in the hemisphere.

Simeus could have diversified his political portfolio, by running for a lesse
r position; Senator or Deputy, and build a track record, and later on, shoot for the presidency.

The Haitian Conservatists couldn’t tolerate him trying to go to the top without being tested, and may have said:

“We are poor, but we have rules and regulations, principle and ethics, tolerance, compassion, and love for our fellow citizens and we are not willing to trade those priceless values that Simeus' money can’t buy.
For everything else, he's free to use Visa or Master Card."

The Haitian Diaspora has been a poisonous problem for the locals, but within it, contains the antidote.

We just need to take our time and look for it.

Michel

[Marcien Toussaint*]

Dear Sir,

I do not think that you have read carefully what I’ve been writing about Haitians living abroad.
I did mention many times that the future of Haiti rests heavily on the shoulders of Haitians living abroad.

First, I believe that it is very important that we reach a general consensus with all those Haitians whether they have acquired a new nationality or not.

Secondly, I believe that the Haitian-American Republicans represent a clear and present danger. With USAID and IRI in Haiti, they have helped with destabilizing our country twice. One should not forget about Honorat who was getting paid $ 240.000 US dollars through his NGO and the $ 4,000.000 dollars that were funneled to IRI the second time in order to pay for that psychological warfare. That type of ideology where power and wealth should be in the hands of the few and hope that money can be trickled down is no similar than the politics of the o
ligarchy that has literally destroyed our country. Haitian American Republicans should be kept in check.

Thirdly, history has already proved to us how fatal betrayal is to our sovereignty and struggle for change. It is wise to strengthen our institutions in order to achieve that state of preparedness intellectually and politically and be able to face the problems of space and time that may result from the application and ratification of double nationality and crimes committed by such citizens.

Fourthly, Haitians who have acquired a new nationality and who decide to be part of the reconstruction of Haiti, our country, will be demanded to do it effectively and efficiently. Of course, the State of Haiti intends to work with them and provide adequate incentives to all entrepreneurs and professionals. When as a group and after proven positive results of their participation during twenty five years at least, a national referendum will be scheduled for the ratification of the double nationality statu
s by Haiti, our country.

Last, I clearly understand that with such a vision, you may not enjoy that status but I’m pretty sure that you understand that you owe more to Haiti than Haiti owes to you. In fact, you owe her your life.

Best regards,