In an attempt to clear up the allegations against him, Wyclef Jean, “Haiti’s most famous son,” divulged his reasons for running for president in Haiti and addressed the controversy surrounding his presidential bid.
Wyclef says that deceit within the electoral council was behind the decision to bar him from running. According to the Haitian constitution, only an individual who has had residency in Haiti for five years previous to the election can run for president. The electoral council states that Wyclef has not fulfilled these qualifications.
“The rul[ing] they are sending you is propaganda because the electoral council is very corrupted. Wyclef Jean has had residency and domain in Haiti for the past five years,” says Wyclef.
Wyclef goes on to say, “The reason that I am appealing is because, understand what’s going on, if I let this get through, you have kids that are eight, nine, years old in Haiti that are prostitutes. The government don’t care about that. You have the kidnapping situation in Haiti. It’s important that I unveil the truth, and the corruption of the electoral council in Haiti going on right now.”
As an attempt to further prove there’s corruption behind the electoral council’s decision, Wyclef claims that there are people that are being allowed to run [for the presidency] by the council that only have been residents of Haiti within the last three years, which is a clear violation to the constitution.
Wyclef says he voted for current president Rene Preval in the most recent Haiti presidential election. “I could not have voted for the president in 2006, if I did not have residence in Haiti”, states Jean.
When asked about his alleged mismanagement of the Yele Haiti charity for his own purposes Jean says, “I have personally, Wyclef Jean, has never used Yele Haiti money to benefit anything that I have done.”
“The reason why they do not want Wyclef Jean to run for president of Haiti is because my form of leadership will be a 21st century one, where our focus will be on education for the youth, which is in the constitution.They are supposed to be give free education and job creation,” Wyclef says.