The process of political negotiations between Montana, Ariel Henry and his allies of the 9/11 Accord has stalled since the last meeting on July 18, during which the two parties could not agree on the mode of governance to lead the transition. Proposal and counter-proposal follow one another and the crisis remains intact. Jacques Ted St-Dic, one of the faces of the Montana Accord Monitoring Office, told the newspaper on Tuesday that Montana did not intend to respond to the latest counter-proposal for the negotiations agenda from the delegation of the Primature.
“We’re not going to get into a match-3 game. Political negotiations are not interrupted. Contacts are maintained informally…”, he confided to the newspaper.
Asked whether Montana is still in direct contact with Prime Minister Ariel Henry, Mr. St-Dic replied in the affirmative, stressing that contacts are also maintained with other personalities without specifying them.
According to him, the members of the Prime Minister’s Agreement delegation do not have the same levels of responsibility and commitment. Jacques Ted St-Dic also denounced the maneuvers of certain players to keep “their small interests and small profits”.
For Jacques Ted St-Dic, it is not normal that from the start we prohibit the introduction of certain points in the agenda of the negotiations. During the last meeting on July 18 between Montana, Ariel Henry and his allies of the September 11 Agreement, the latter were categorically opposed to the integration into the agenda of the establishment of a two-headed executive to lead the transition.
Jacques Ted St-Dic says he is confident that the informal contacts will make it possible to arrive at an agenda for the negotiations. “We are prioritizing separate reports to come to the table with an agenda that works for both parties,” he said.
Ariel Henry’s team wants to negotiate on “the constitutional question, in particular the revision of the electoral system, the question of political parties as the first outputs of the national dialogue on the fundamental problems of the nation and the harmonization of mandates; the fight against corruption and impunity: the strengthening and possibly the revision of control and prosecution bodies, the fight against tax evasion, urgent institutional reforms; social appeasement and the revival of economic, social and cultural activities with a view to improving the living conditions of the population and facilitating the return to peace”.
The Prime Minister’s Agreement also proposes to Montana to negotiate on “elections, the formation of the CEP (institutional and administrative dimension), financing of political parties and elections; the questions of the judiciary, the body of control of the governmental action and the third of the Senate during the transition”.
Contrary to what Montana claims, the Primature does not intend to negotiate on the governance of the country. For the ruling 9/11 deal, Ariel Henry must stay on as prime minister to lead the transition and organize elections as Montana wants the restoration of the three powers of the state with a two-headed executive during the transition. On July 18, the two parties separated on this Gordian knot.