The Haitian crisis is fundamentally institutional. It is the outcome of a deliberate effort by our authorities, both past and present, to undermine the institutions they were supposed to strengthen. Therefore, it is no coincidence that our institutions are ill-equipped to handle the crisis. It is a short-term winning strategy in that it allows certain individuals to attain positions of responsibility they would not occupy if the institutions were functioning as intended. It also enables them to evade any form of oversight.

Today, society is paying a steep price for the weakening of institutions. Neighborhoods held hostage, the kidnapping industry, armed gangs occupying national roads, and serial rapes are all consequences of a toothless justice system and a police force without the means to implement its policies. The same can be said for public hospitals, institutions responsible for city sanitation, and the Electricity of Haiti (ED'H).