While Haiti might be responsible for one of the most far reaching revolution of ideas in 1804, it missed out on both the industrial and information revolutions. Fortunately, leapfrogging by implementing those ideas now is easier than ever. Why isn't Haiti doing it?
Both the industrial and, more recently, the information revolution had as its engine the availability and creation of energy to drive innovation and productivity. This is basic history.
Haiti is now in the grips of gas shortage that is strangling the economy. Meetings are being cancelled, programs are being pushed back, business's are losing inventory that require fuel for generators to keep them cool. The people of Haiti are so used to managing misery, we call it "jere mise" in creole, that this may be considered just something else to handle. That’s probably why the people are not in the streets protesting. The truth is the gas shortage hurts. Getting a tap tap to get to work is expensive. Lack of fuel means fewer are on the road. I stayed w/ a friend who lives walking distance to my morning destination to save the money of tap tap and insure use of my feet as transportation. Gas stations, which are primary distributors of propane, aren't receiving propane because the trucks run on diesel/gas. That means more demand for charcoal made from Haiti's trees--a dwindling resource.
We have neither steam power, coal power, or oxen enough to support the energy needs of the Haitian economy, now or in the future. It would seem that Haiti's energy policy to deal with these problems is non-existent. The official government report for reconstruction, The Haiti Action Plan, found here http://www.haiticonference.org/Haiti_Action_Plan_ENG.pdf, literally has the word "energy" in it only five times in 55 pages (not to mention internet just once). Two of those times it appears in parentheses. The plan specifically notes that buying fossil fuel and importing energy from the Dominican Republic will be expensive and we need to consider that in building out the grid. That is, that’s where they will get the energy Haiti needs to be productive!! Yet the action plan set out by the government of Haiti does nothing to address this systemic problem. It concedes the point that Haiti will forever be an energy importer when there is no reason for her to be.
Where are all the Haitian engineers? I went to a conference organized by the Haitian League in Hollywood, FL last August. I sat in a session in which a slew of Haitian-American, big corporation engineers explained all the various ways Haiti can have cheap, domestically produced power. The talked about hyrdo-electric, ocean heat pumps, geo thermal, coal which Haiti has in abundance. Domestic energy means not sending US$200 million a year of badly needed funds overseas. That means Haiti becoming and incubator for green and alternative energy technology. That means Haiti becomes a key player in the coming energy revolution as it was a leader in the freedom revolution.
Where are the Haitian-American lobbyists in Washington, DC insisting that first and foremost, Haiti should have green and/or domestically produced energy? No reasonable leader can envision the future of Haiti without a secure, locally produced, source of energy. Right now, on the street, gas is being sold on the black market at elevated rates. There are rumors of large private reservoirs being built for fuel to be sold when shortages arise. Certain people will profit. Haiti's people will suffer.
Where are the demands for country-wide information infrastructure like universal wifi and fiber optic lines and the energy to support it to help people get in on the global economy and have a voice? A reconstruction without a successful local energy generation program will be a failure for people of Haiti and a success for fuel arbitragers in Haiti. Haitians can do revolution. She needs one now.
Alain ArmandXaragua Management, LLC
Managing Director
www.thehaitian.com
@thehaitian
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