Prime minister resigns
PRIME MINISTER Joseph Jouthe has announced his resignation with President Jovenel Moise saying that his departure “will make it possible to address the glaring problem of insecurity” in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.
Moise said he has since appointed former minister Claude Joseph as prime minister.
Jouthe took to social media early Wednesday morning to announce that he had submitted his resignation to Moise. His resignation comes after only one year in the job. He was appointed prime minister in March 2020 by presidential decree and without a political agreement with the country’s vocal opposition.
His appointment came two months after Moïse began ruling by executive order after the terms of most members of parliament expired. Moïse had unsuccessfully spent a year trying to get two different prime ministers through Parliament after the Lower Chamber of Deputies fired Prime Minister Jean Henry Céant on March 18, 2020.
“I submitted my resignation to the president of the Republic, His Excellency Mr Jovenel Moïse. It was an honour to serve my country as prime minister. I thank the members of my Government, the technical and financial partners for their collaboration. May God bless Haiti,” he wrote.
In an immediate response, Moïse wrote: “The resignation of the Government, which I accepted, will make it possible to address the glaring problem of insecurity and to continue discussions with a view to reaching the consensus necessary for the political and institutional stability of our country.”
Haiti is facing a constitutional crisis with many Haitians saying they no longer recognise Moïse because they believe his term expired on February 7 under the current constitution.
The resignation of Jouthe comes less than 24 hours after Religions For Peace announced its withdrawal from the peace and dialogue process.
However, it said it remains ready to encourage any other initiative of dialogue which tends towards a peaceful solution of security crisis in the country.