He's conquered the music world, he's financially secure for life and he's a politicised spokesman for his native homeland: all indications are that hip-hop star Wyclef Jean will run for presidency of Haiti, writes BRIAN BOYD
AS THEY used to say of the Irish abroad, those “professional Paddies” who loudly proclaimed their sense of national identity and subscribed to all the “land of saints and scholars” stereotypes: “They would do anything for their country – except live there.”
This is the problem hip-hop star Wyclef Jean faces as he gives serious consideration to running for the presidency of his native Haiti in November. As arguably the most famous Haitian in the world, with a massive following in a country where half the population are under 21, his election would be a shoo-in. Jean grew up in the country but his family moved to the US when he was 10.
Despite putting out statements such as: “Wyclef’s commitment to his homeland and its youth is boundless, and he will remain its greatest supporter regardless of whether he is part of the government moving forward,” he hasn’t officially declared himself because of doubts over his eligibility. All candidates for the post have to prove they have resided in Haiti for five consecutive years, own property in the country and have never been a citizen of any other country.
The latter criterion is proving a sticking point and holding back Jean's full declaration. In an interview with Timemagazine four years ago he replied to the question "Are you an American citizen?" by saying: "I'm a US resident. I have a Haitian passport. Wyclef Jean could never be Wyclef Jean without America. Once somebody goes to America, there's no such thing as coming back to Haiti, you know?"
If elected, he would become the first major music celebrity to hold such a high office. Gilberto Gil may have been Brazil's minister for culture for a while and Nana Mouskouri may have been a MEP, but neither have the mass appeal of Jean. As a member of The Fugees and as a solo artist, he is a multiple Grammy-winner who has sold around 40 million albums. Bob Dylan is such a fan he broke a habit of a lifetime to appear in one of his videos, Gone Till November.
Jean’s campaign would be like a glitzy MTV awards ceremony for the benighted Caribbean country. He is close friends with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt who are always on hand when he’s publicising his charitable works for Haiti and he would doubtless tap them up for a bit of canvassing in the most photogenic of the Port-au-Prince ghettos.
But would the 38-year-old really give up his multi-millionaire hip-hop star lifestyle to become president of the poorest country in the Americas? Haiti’s economy is technically “a basket case” and the country was ravaged by an earthquake last January which left at least 200,000 people dead and one million homeless. And previous Haitian presidents rarely got to complete their five-year term. In the past they have either been overthrown or assassinated, or have unilaterally declared themselves “president for life”, as was the case with Papa Doc Duvalier.
Jean has until August 7th to declare his candidacy and all indications are that he will grab the chance to run: he’s been there and done that in the music world, he’s financially secure for life, and he’s been a politicised spokesman for Haiti for most of his adult life.
He's already envisaged doing so in a song he wrote a few years ago. If I Was President, an acoustic-reggae track, has the lyrics (with perhaps references to Haiti's troubled political history): "If I was president, I'd get elected on Friday, assassinated on Saturday and buried on Sunday." He goes on to outline what sort of campaigning president he would be: "If I was president, I would tell the children that Christopher Columbus did not discover America, I'd tell them the truth about Marcus Garvey, about Martin Luther King . . . instead of spending billions on the war we could use some of that money in the ghetto."
A few years ago when asked about a future in politics he replied: “I can’t sing forever.” He is a current “ambassador-at-large” for the Haitian government. Two years ago he was headhunted by the UN peacekeeping mission in the country to record a message to raise morale there. He pleaded with his countrymen to give up crime and work to improve living conditions. “If you love Wyclef that means you love Haiti,” he said in the widely broadcast and continually repeated radio ad. “So you should not be raping women, kidnapping people and children, because there can be no excuse for doing so. I reject these evil practices.” He went on to urge Haitian men to “respect and protect” women’s rights. Jean recorded the message in the Haitian Creole language so it would reach all classes of Haitian society.
The UN asked him because as a rapper who enjoyed respect from the country’s young crime gangs, his message would get to the right people. “All kinds of Haitians, the good guys as well as the bad guys, have a lot of appreciation for Wyclef and what he represents as a Haitian,” the UN said.
Born just outside of the capital, Jean grew up in abject poverty. His family lived in a one-room shack and he went to school on a donkey. When his family moved to New Jersey, he worked in Burger King as a teenager and never finished school. With another Haitian-American, Pres, and the singer Lauryn Hill he formed the rap group The Fugees (the name is slang for “refugees”, which is how Jean felt as a Haitian in the US). They were a hip-hop sensation in the 1990s – at one stage the biggest act on the planet – but broke up acrimoniously. Despite lucrative offers for a reunion tour, the band have said there is more chance of Osama bin Laden and George Bush discussing politics in Starbucks over a latte than there is for The Fugees to get back together.
Jean’s subsequent solo career was just as glittering but in 2005 he set up the Yele Haiti Foundation (yele is Creole for “help”), a charitable organisation that provides scholarships in the US to impoverished Haitian children. The foundation is now his main focus, particularly after January’s devastating earthquake.
In a taster of what he will be up against if he enters a political contest, he has been scrambling of late to account for alleged irregularities in the foundation’s finances. Charity Navigator, an independent, non-profit organisation that evaluates American
charities, has been critical of the Yele Haiti Foundation calling its bookkeeping “odd” and noting it filed tax returns “beyond late”.
He faced some hard questions from the international media when he arrived in Port-au-Prince in January to help in the aftermath of the earthquake. He had just tweeted: “I’m carrying dead bodies on the street, I was the one carrying bodies to the morgue,” and was in tears at a press conference when the subject of his foundation’s finances came up. “Did I ever use Yele money for personal benefits? Absolutely not,” he said.
The allegation was that the foundation had paid him well above the going rate in expenses and appearance money but experts on non-profit organisations concluded they couldn’t find serious wrongdoing – except for a lapse of discipline in filing his taxes.
Having now filled out the paperwork required to be a candidate for the presidential office in Haiti, he is currently sitting on them before the August deadline. His equivocation on the matter is believed to be a ruse to allow him enough time to become even more transparent with his foundation’s finances and to clear up any doubt about his residency/citizenship status.
“I have had a lot of success in entertainment. But I didn’t really become successful as a person until I began to give of myself to others who needed my help,” he has said. If he runs in November, he will win. But even with his wealth, power and influence – not to mention all the celebrities he has on speed dial – can a rap star with no real political/economic experience do anything to help the poorest country in the western hemisphere?
CV
Who?Singer Wyclef Jean, but that could soon be "Mr President".
Will he/won't he run for presidency of Haiti:"If and when a decision is made, media will be alerted immediately," he says. Best to keep an eye on his Twitter account @wyclef.
Friends in high places:He's on first-name terms with Barack Obama (a huge Fugees fan; apparently he once asked Jean for his autograph) and his uncle is the Haitian ambassador to the US.
Friends in even higher places:Get Angelina Jolie to join him on the stump and it'll be a walkover.
