A transitional council was established to restore democratic order in the country Haiti signed a decree on Sunday dismissing the country’s interim prime minister Gary Conille and replacing him with Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, a businessman previously considered for the job.
The decree, which was due to be published on Monday, was provided to the Associated Press by a government source. It marks yet more turmoil in Haiti’s already shaky democratic transition process, which has failed to last democratic elections in recent years largely due to the rising levels of gang violence plaguing the Caribbean country.
Fils-Aimé is the former president of the Haiti Chamber of Commerce and Industry and ran an unsuccessful campaign for Senate in 2015. The businessman attended Boston University and was previously considered for the position as a candidate for the private sector position before Conille took the seat.
Conille, a longtime civil servant who worked for the United Nations, was prime minister for only six months.
The transitional council was created in April with the task of choosing Haiti’s next Prime Minister and Cabinet, with the hope that this would help quell unrest in Haiti. But the council has been plagued by politics and infighting, and in October a number of council members faced corruption charges.
The process suffered another blow in October when three council members faced corruption charges, with anti-corruption investigators claiming they had demanded $750,000 in bribes from a government bank executive to secure his job.
The report was a major blow to the nine-member council and is expected to further undermine public confidence in it.
The same members accused of bribery, Smith Augustin, Emmanuel Vertilaire and Louis Gérald Gilles, were among those who signed the decree. Only one member, Edgard Leblanc Fils, did not sign the order.
