Article on the "firing" of Haiti's Prime Minister

HAITI Haitian Senate fires prime minister In a marathon session, Haitiansenators voted to oust Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis. By JACQUELINECHARLES jcharles@MiamiHerald.com
PORT-AU-PRINCE -- Haiti's Senate voted just after midnight Friday to dismissPrime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis, following almost 10 hours of debate.
Senate President Kely Bastien, who is not allowed to cast a vote underSenate rules, said a letter will be sent to President René Préval notifyinghim of the Senate's 18-0 decision.
A number of senators who opposed the move to fire Pierre-Louis had left theSenate floor shortly before the vote, believing that they had successfullyfilibustered the attempt when the clock struck midnight here.
``There is nothing illegal about the vote,'' said Bastien, adding that Haiti``could have a new prime minister as early as today or Saturday.''
The session began almost two hours after the scheduled start time andlawmakers spent hours debating procedures with supporters of Pierre-Louis,who questioned the validity of the senators' move to censure her.
Her supporters made impassioned pleas and cries of ``illegal'' and``unconstitutional'' from the Senate floor.
Senators have accused Pierre-Louis, a favorite of the internationalcommunity, of not moving quickly to solve Haiti's crucial problems: highunemployment, lack of significant foreign investments and environmentaldeterioration.
Pierre-Louis, in office for a year, said she has spent much of her tenuregetting international support for Haiti after four back-to-back stormsdevastated the country last year, and it is too soon to see the results ofher work.
Senators were not swayed.
But unlike the last censure of a Haitian prime minister -- Jacques-EdouardAlexis in April 2008 following days of food riots -- this one wasn't asswift or orderly.
At times, chaos reigned: Lawmakers screamed and talked over one another infront a national television audience.
The Senate president often rang a small silver bell in a futile attempt tocreate order as the session stretched into Friday morning without a vote.The vote finally occured at about 12:15 a.m., long after Pierre-Louis'Senate supporters had left, believing they had succeeded in preventing avote.
``There is an error in the summons and everyone knows it,'' said Sen. YouriLatortue, a Pierre-Louis supporter who last year successfully led themovement to oust Alexis.
But those lined up against Pierre-Louis weren't moved by the constitutionalarguments, nor her letter to the Senate president questioning the validityof the censure and informing him that she did not plan to attend thesession.
``Do we not have the right, the freedom today to call the government and askfor an explanation?'' asked Jean Hector Anacasis, one of the senatorsleading the effort to oust Pierre-Louis.
Sen. Joseph Lambert, the former president of the senate and leader ofPresident Préval's Lespwa Coalition, went even further, accusingPierre-Louis of not improving the lives of most of the country's estimatednine million citizens who live on less than $2 a day.
``I've never been so shocked in my life,'' said Sen. Andris Riche afterhearing Lambert's reasons for wanting Pierre-Louis gone and walking out ofthe session following an impassioned speech in support of her.
``You are going to commit an act that to me is disastrous. Decisions are notmade at the prime minister's office. You know where the decisions aremade,'' he said, implying the presidential palace.
Neither Pierre-Louis nor her government showed up for the censure.
*Miami Herald special correspondent Jean-Cyril Pressoir contributed to thisreport.