BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THREE-TIME Grammy Award winning musician Wyclef Jean has put rumours to rest about him running for president in Haiti, when he arrived yesterday (Aug. 5) with his wife and daughter at an electoral council office in Port-au-Prince and filed the paper work.
He also appeared on the Larry King Live show last night to formally announce his decision.
According to reports, he was greeted by dozens of supporters when he arrived to file the candidacy papers, which deadline is tomorrow.
He however hit a ‘roadblock’ when, according to Time.com, his former band mate Pras would not endorse him.
The New York Daily News reports that Pras, who was in the Fugees with Wyclef, has announced his support of Michel Martell for Haiti's president.
"He is the most competent candidate for the job," Pras said in a statement.
However, the verdict is still out on whether former band mate Lauryn Hill will endorse Jean.
The Haitian-born singer/songwriter has ended weeks of speculation by confirming he would run for president. For the past five years he has been increasing his engagement with Haiti having left the country when he was nine years old.
The Grammy-Award winning Hip-Hop artiste will be putting his music career on hold, as he hopes to become the next president of Haiti.
Haiti was recently devastated by an earthquake that killed some 300 000 people and left another 1.6 million homeless.
Jean told CBS News correspondent and Morning News anchor Betty Nguyen that he has no qualifications for president.
“I have no qualifications for president; I have qualifications for a leader," he said. “The reason why I even entertain this idea is education, job creation, agriculture, bringing security into the country,” he added.
Those are the areas on which Jean would focus.
He has already resigned from his charity, Yele Haiti, which drew criticism following the January earthquake for alleged mismanagement of funds.
He said: "You could say, ‘Well, the governance of Yele Haiti was not right. So, how do I know you could govern a country if you couldn't govern a charity?’ And what I will say to you is, I made a mistake. And what did I do? I fixed the mistake and I moved on."
Four major factors are said to be challenges Wyclef Jean would face, according to his brother Sam Jean who is acting like a spokesman.
The factors include residency and it remains unclear if he has lived in Haiti long enough, or consistently enough, to meet the constitutional requirement where in Article 135, that a president never has taken foreign citizenship and to have resided in the country for five years consecutive to the election.
His education is another challenge, where it is said that he may come under scrutiny over his lack of education.
After graduating from Vailsburg High School outside of Newark, he briefly attended Five Towns College on Long Island in the late 1980s. He dropped out after less than a year to pursue a professional – and very successful – music career with The Fugees and then as a solo artiste.
His Political ideology is also unknown, according to monitor.com.
“Nor does Wyclef fit into the classic mold of a politician rising through the ranks. He has never held public office, and his political ideology remains largely unknown,” the report said.
His former Yele Haiti charity poses as the major final challenge.
According to monitor.com, he has been accused of enriching himself through his non-profit Yele Haiti.
Yele is said to have raised more than $9 million for earthquake relief days after the January 12 earthquake. A report in The Smoking Gun claimed that Wyclef and his business partner charged the foundation at least $410 000 for rent, production services and a performance at a 2006 benefit concert. Moreover, the NGO paid for airtime on a Haitian radio station owned in part by Wyclef.
Wyclef offered an apology, but insisted he never personally gained financially from the NGO.
