Wyclef Blasts Haitian Officials In Song
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI – Wyclef Jean has put out a protest song criticizing Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) for refusing to let him run in the upcoming presidential election and accusing President Rene Preval of being behind his rejection.
Sung in Creole, the song ‘Prizon pou Kepa’ (Prison for the CEP) which was released via Jean’s Twitter account and later posted on other blogs, pulls no punches. Jean accuses Preval, who appointed him as roving ambassador in 2007, of betraying him. The singer alleges that even after Preval assured him of his friendship and told him he was a good candidate at a meeting last week, days before the announcement that he was among 15 who did not meet requirements to contest the elections, the President betrayed him. “Even though you say that the decision came from the Provisional Electoral Council, I know you hold all the cards. I voted for you for president in 2006, why do you reject my candidacy today?” Jean sings. The 40-year-old is on a campaign to force the CEP to include him in the presidential race. He said he was disqualified because the commission said he did not meet residency requirements. Jean left Haiti at the age of nine, but he has insisted that his appointment as ambassador at large should exempt him from that requirement and is seeking to appeal the decision. A legal representative on the CEP has already indicated that the law does not provide for a challenge. But Jean made it clear in his new song that he is not giving up. In fact, the song begins and ends with his insistence that the fight will not end with the commission. “I am going to challenge, going to challenge, going to court to challenge” he opens the song. After his criticisms of Preval and the CEP, Wyclef ends “I will continue to challenge the CEP. We must remain mobilized. I won’t give up. Face to face, lies lose”.
'Prison for the CEP' translation from NEWSWEEK
I am going to challenge, going to challenge, going to court to challenge
Look, they disqualified Wyclef,
They say that Wyclef does not speak Creole. He’s the candidate from the diaspora.
Even my Haitian people, they curse me on Facebook, when they heard that I was running for president, they said Wyclef should be barred ...
Even the priests of the Catholic Church were shocked. They said I left Petit-Goâve for Les Cayes …
All the weekend I was celebrated the feast of Our Lady. I disqualified.
Port Salut disqualified, children cried
There are activists/militants who said I made a deal with Préval.
But I didn’t do a deal with Préval,
It was a president asked to see a candidate. I could not refuse it ...
I only told him I’d come back. When I got there he served me coffee ...
He wanted to assure our friendship. He told me I was a good candidate.
He put me on the phone with Jude Celestin. We had a good talk.
Afterward Préval barred me.
Even though you say that the decision came from the Provisional Electoral Council, I know you hold all the cards.
I voted for you for president in 2006, why do you reject my candidacy today?
You didn’t reject Wyclef. You rejected the youth.
You didn’t reject Wyclef. You rejected the people.
You didn’t reject Wyclef. You rejected the fellow hawking sweets on the street.
You didn’t reject Wyclef. You rejected the peasants.
They rejected Wyclef. Some people say that I went to [the] Saut d’Eau [falls] to get some special powers.
But I just went there to bathe in the falls.
If I had gone there to get special powers, perhaps I would not have been disqualified.
The CEP [Provisional Electoral Council] disqualified me.
Don’t forget my father was a Rev. Minister. The God who is with me is stronger than Lucifer.
Lucifer is in control of the CEP. The Satan disqualified me. The children of God cannot be barred.
Fas a Fas. Jen Kore Jen. Front to Front. We want education for all for us to get there. In the schools, we want to get there. In the universities, we want to get there.
Youth sector, peasant sector, we will not allow them to trample on our rights. We must get there.
Black bandanna. Red bandanna. Red and blue.
We’re all the same. Haiti is our lady. Let it not break our hearts.
Before I go to bed, I always read a psalm.
I pray to Hosanna: get the people out from under the rubble, and send Archangel Gabriel to protect the women living in the tents where they are being raped ...
Wyclef Jean, indeed, I will continue to challenge the CEP. We must remain mobilized. I won’t give up.
Face to face, lies lose.
