Schwa. Posted August 4, 2010 Report Share Posted August 4, 2010 Wyclef Jean to seek Haitian presidencyWed Aug 4, 2:52 AMWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Haitian-American music star Wyclef Jean will announce his bid for president of earthquake-ravaged Haiti this week, Time magazine reported on Tuesday.Haiti, which was hit January 12 by a deadly 7.0-magnitude earthquake, is scheduled to vote on November 28 to elect a new leader to replace President Rene Preval, whose term ends in February."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," Jean said in an interview with Time.There has been widespread speculation that Jean would seek the office. Last week in Haiti he said he was taking the necessary legal steps toward running for president, including having his fingerprints taken by the judicial police. However, he said on Thursday in Port-au-Prince that he had not made a definite decision.Many analysts predict Jean -- who at 37 is very popular among Haitians, particularly the young -- would easily win the presidential election.A three-time Grammy award-winner, Jean was a founding member of the hip-hop trio The Fugees and won wider fame for his collaboration with Colombian pop star Shakira. He released a song two years ago called "If I Was President".Jean established the Yele Haiti Foundation in 2005 to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Haiti. He said after the January 12 earthquake which killed up to 300,000 people that Haiti's future rested on education, job creation and investment."If not for the earthquake, I probably would have waited another 10 years before doing this," Jean told Time. "The quake drove home to me that Haiti can't wait another 10 years for us to bring it into the 21st century."Jean emigrated to the United States aged 9, but has maintained his Haitian citizenship, a requirement for running for the presidency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorgnor Posted August 4, 2010 Report Share Posted August 4, 2010 Good on him. I hope he can do a good job and that he doesn't become the face of some sort of neo-colonization project in Haiti. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AD Posted August 4, 2010 Report Share Posted August 4, 2010 Wasn't there a big controversy over money mis-management in his charity for Haiti? Did that ever get sorted out?Guy seems passionate about the cause but I really wonder how much he knows about issues, diplomacy, budgets, politics, catastrophes, etc. Time will tell I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorgnor Posted August 5, 2010 Report Share Posted August 5, 2010 Wasn't there a big controversy over money mis-management in his charity for Haiti? Did that ever get sorted out?Guy seems passionate about the cause but I really wonder how much he knows about issues, diplomacy, budgets, politics, catastrophes, etc. Time will tell I guess. Don't know about the charity stuff, but the rest of that is exactly what I'm concerned about as well. The last thing Haiti needs is a joke in office, just corruption has been bad enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradm Posted August 5, 2010 Report Share Posted August 5, 2010 Wasn't there a big controversy over money mis-management in his charity for Haiti? Did that ever get sorted out?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyclef_Jean#Y.C3.A9le_HaitiAloha,Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AD Posted August 5, 2010 Report Share Posted August 5, 2010 Wyclef Jean has stepped down as leader of the embattled aid group he founded as he prepares to formally declare his candidacy for the Haitian presidency.The singer released a statement that he was resigning the chairmanship of Yele Haiti effective immediately Thursday.The Brooklyn, N.Y.-raised singer was making his way to his native Haiti and was expected to officially file his election papers Thursday afternoon at the provisional electoral council in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.“I am not stepping down in my commitment to Haiti. On the contrary, regardless of what path I take next, one thing is certain: My focus on helping Haiti turn a new corner will only grow stronger,†Jean said in the statement.Businessman Derek Q. Johnson will take up the helm of the organization.Jean helped found Yele Haiti five years ago to raise money and build awareness of the myriad problems in his impoverished homeland. It raised $9 million in the wake of the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed a government-estimated 300,000 people. Of that, it has spent $1.5 million on food, water, tents, clothes and other products for quake survivors, Jean spokeswoman Cindy Tanenbaum said.The organization — named for one of the former Fugee member's songs — often worked in partnership with the United Nations and other agencies to implement its programs, lending its name and Jean's cache to help raise funds.But Yele came under criticism when post-quake scrutiny revealed alleged improprieties including that it had paid Jean to perform at fundraising events and bought advertising air time from a television station he co-owns.Jean tearfully defended the organization in a news conference weeks after the quake. Yele also hired a new accounting firm after the allegations surfaced.On Wednesday, The Smoking Gun website posted documents online indicating Jean personally owes $2.1 million in back taxes to the U.S. government.Tanenbaum declined to comment on the new allegations. Jean was en route to Haiti and could not immediately be reached.Numerous candidates are expected to seek the presidency in Haiti's Nov. 28 election, from those representing small factions, towns and pockets of the diaspora to former heads of government. They have until Saturday to register.Among the most formidable contestants will be ousted ex-Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis, who secured the backing of President Rene Preval's powerful Unity party this week. Preval is barred from running by the constitution.All candidates must be approved by an eight-member, presidentially approved electoral council that will verify constitutional requirements including having resided in Haiti for five consecutive years leading up to the election and never having held foreign citizenship.The residency requirement could put Jean's candidacy in jeopardy from the start. The singer — whose age was until recently listed as 37 but whose brother said this week he is 40 — left Haiti as a child and lives primarily in the United States.In an interview this week with The Associated Press, the brother said advisers believe he will be excused from the requirement because he has held a formal, at-large Haitian ambassadorship since 2007. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaggyBalls Posted August 8, 2010 Report Share Posted August 8, 2010 Entertainers are great at SEEMING sincere.Maybe Haiti needs a 'leader' that doesn't have the direct means to push the political envelope.Maybe it's all so easy to be cynical/skeptical with a media figure being the head of an entire country.He would most likely win a free vote. I couldn't see him actually losing unless there would be a better Haitian for the job that actually has lived there more recently...to some that would be a simple task to meet but there's something strangely compelling about Wyclef.I hope he's able to keep the interests of Haitians independant of special interests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradm Posted August 22, 2010 Report Share Posted August 22, 2010 Wyclef 'respectfully accepts' failed bidAloha,Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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