Can Wyclef save Haiti?

Here, in part, is how hip-hop star Wyclef Jean rationalized his decision to run for president of Haiti this November:

If I can’t take five years out to serve my country as President, then everything I’ve been singing about, like equal rights, doesn’t mean anything.

(TIME, August 4, 2010)

But I suspect some Haitians will be put off by the arrogance inherent in this rapper suggesting that being president is the only meaningful way he can serve his country. (Other wannabe presidents will probably accuse him of wanting not to be president but a cross between a black Moses and a black Messiah….)

Not to mention the disservice this rationale does to his own legacy of charitable and humanitarian work on behalf of the chronically impoverished people of Haiti. Or, for that matter, the unwitting way it discounts the abiding pride he has expressed for Haiti throughout the years in his very popular music. A pride in fact that is plainly manifest even in the name of the band that made him famous: the Fugees – derived from the refugee status far too many Haitians can relate to.

Nevertheless, the arrogance of Wyclef’s candidacy would be easily surpassed by the foolhardiness of anyone who thinks that he is not qualified to serve as president.  Here’s why:

It’s a sad commentary on the state of world affairs that the political initiatives of a Hollywood actress or rock star are taken more seriously than those of a seasoned statesman. 

How else can one explain the President of Sierra Leone drooling over Angelina Jolie last week as he promised HER immediate action on redressing human rights abuses in his country after rejecting repeated appeals by President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa to do just that?

How else can one explain Western leaders, including U.S. President George W. Bush, fawning over rock star Bono earlier this year as they promised HIM debt relief for African nations after rejecting repeated pleas by President Obasanjo of Nigeria (and even from Nelson Mandela) to do just that?

(Celebrity-obsessed world has made actors and rocks stars statesmen of our time, The iPINIONS Journal, May 23, 2005)

Actually, I published a commentary only yesterday (on my weblog The iPINIONS Journal) in which I noted that, despite the efforts of revered politicians like the late Senator Ted Kennedy, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons is generally regarded as the one who finally got the U.S. government to amend drug laws which mandated racial disparities (in favour of whites) in cocaine cases.

So given that, in our celebrity-obsessed world, even Western leaders get this star struck, just imagine how captivated ordinary Haitians will be by Wyclef’s celebrity, which clearly rivals that of Angelina, Bono, and Russell.

In point of fact, this is why actor Sean Penn is the most celebrated relief worker in Haiti today – even if he’s too self-righteous to recognize it. It is also why I fear that the other 30-plus candidates in this presidential election will find that all of their academic degrees and political experience will seem irrelevant to most voters, especially once Wyclef begins wooing them at entertaining rock-the-vote campaign rallies.

But I hasten to clarify that this is not to suggest that his celebrity is all Wyclef has to offer.  After all, I doubt there’s another Haitian, let alone another presidential candidate, who has done more than he has done: not only to raise global consciousness about the chronic poverty and disease that plagued Haiti even before the earthquake, but also to raise funds to bring about change in this godforsaken country through programs in education, the arts, sports and the environment.  

Which brings me to the undeniable fact that what Haiti needs now more than anything is a leader who can institutionalize the cause célèbre aiding this earthquake-ravaged country has become.  Because the overriding mandate of any Haitian president for the foreseeable future will be to attract foreign direct investments as well as technical support to reform government institutions and build the country’s infrastructure.  Interestingly enough, here’s how I commented on this national mandate over a year ago:

I commend UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for appointing former President Bill Clinton as Haiti Envoy. Because, in addition to keeping this country’s despairing plight in our global consciousness, Clinton will be able to marshal more financial resources and technical expertise to build infrastructure, improve democratic institutions and establish regard for the rule of law (and human rights) than any Haitian, including President René Préval and Wyclef Jean, ever could.

(Compassion fatigue for Haitian migrants, The iPINIONS Journal, July 31, 2009)

Of course, as much as he might like to, Clinton will not be on the ballot this November. But President Préval won’t be either because he is constitutionally prohibited from running for a third term.

It follows that, over a year before he announced his candidacy, I thought Wyclef had enough international contacts and gravitas to be mentioned in the same context as Clinton and Préval when it comes to providing the unique kind of leadership Haiti needs today. More to the point, it was probably this recognition of Wyclef’s clout that moved Préval to appoint him as Haiti’s international goodwill ambassador in 2007.  

I would be remiss, however, if I did not acknowledge a glaring problem with Wyclef’s candidacy. It stems from reasonable concerns that he cannot be trusted with any access to the billions in aid and investments that will be flowing into Haiti.  Here’s how I commented on this critical element of trust earlier this year:

What will distinguish this latest round of foreign aid is the vested interest all donor nations are taking in Haiti’s sustainable development.  Indeed, nothing militates against billions more being squandered quite like having former U.S. President Bill Clinton, instead of local leaders, managing this nation-building project. Especially since one can be forgiven for thinking all Haitian politicians are congenitally incompetent and corrupt…

(Haitians returning to Africa…, The iPINIONS Journal, February 12, 2010)

The reason Wyclef has some ‘splainin’ to do in this respect is that, according to credible reports, the IRS has filed over $2 million in federal tax liens against him.  This dreaded tax collection agency alleges that Wyclef was either grossly negligent or willfully dishonest in filing his tax returns for several years. In a similar vein, he has also been dogged by allegations that he has used contributions to his humanitarian Yéle Haiti Foundation for his personal benefit….

Nevertheless, I submit that Wyclef can allay all concerns about his fiduciary competence and trustworthiness by pledging that all foreign aid and investments will be directed to and processed through the NGO for Haiti’s recovery and reconstruction that Clinton is currently heading.

In any case, he would be wise to announce a team of political advisers comprised of the most talented Haitians who have not been tainted by the legacy of corruption, incompetence, nepotism, and cronyism that have made successive Haitian governments such a dysfunctional mess.  Naturally this would include calling on impeccably qualified Haitians in the Diaspora, like my esteemed colleague Jean H. Charles MSW, JD, to return home along with him to serve their country.

If Wyclef allays these concerns, I fully expect him to be elected the next president of Haiti – with all due respect to the other wannabes.

In the meantime, given that some Americans are still questioning Barack Obama’s birthright to be president of the United States simply because he lived abroad as a child, it might be helpful for Wyclef to publish irrefutable evidence that he was in fact born in Haiti and has never abrogated his birthright to serve as its president.  Especially since rumour has it that, having grown up in Brooklyn and New Jersey, he now speaks Creole, his native tongue, the way Henry Kissinger speaks English; i.e., like a foreigner.

Can Wyclef save Haiti?  Yes he can.

Related commentaries:
Celebrity obsessed world…
Compassion fatigue for Haitians…
Haitians returning to Africa…