Several high-profile Haitian politicians trying to find a way out of a corruption scandal that has the country’s leadership mired in political infighting are proposing a reconfiguration of the nine-member Transitional Presidential Council in hopes of saving the shaky process.

Three groups — the December 21 Agreement, the Collective of Political Parties of January 30 and the EDE party — sent a joint proposal Wednesday to the 15-member regional Caribbean Community bloc known as CARICOM. The group includes former prime minister Claude Joseph, the head of former President Michel Martelly’s PHTK political party and onetime supporters of ex-prime minister Ariel Henry. Their recommendations, the first to be received by Caribbean leaders, range from replacing everyone on the ruling presidential panel to reducing its numbers to just three members.

The political parties, which have been at odds with one another in the past, said their goal in coming together is to salvage the nine-month-old transition that has struggled to bring stability to Haiti, which continues to descend into anarchy amid escalating gang violence and a worsening humanitarian crisis.

The makeup of the ruling presidential council was finalized in April after Caribbean leaders, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and others from the international community flew to Jamaica to help Haitians create a new transitional government after the U.S. and CARICOM forced the resignation of Henry during a gang uprising in Port-au-Prince.

The council was tasked with clearing the way for Henry’s replacement, welcoming the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission and steering the country toward elections and constitutional reform this year so a new president can take office by Feb. 7, 2026. But from the start the council was beset with problems, and despite several recent decisions, it has struggled to stop the mass killings and kidnappings and attacks on key infrastructure.

The proposal to CARICOM outlines four scenarios on how to address the political turmoil within the ruling council, made up of a cross section of political and civil-society members. All of the scenarios push for some reconfiguration of the council, which has been engulfed in a bribery scandal involving three of its seven voting members. The allegations, which came to light in July, have raised doubts about whether the embattled transitional government can survive and prepare the ground for credible elections.

Jean-Michel Lapin, a former prime minister under late President Jovenel Moïse, said Haiti is sowing the seeds of an even deeper crisis and he doesn’t see the current political framework being the response.

“I think the moment has arrived for the international community to accept that this this form of governance will not bring a solution to the problems we have in Haiti,” said Lapin, who has been critical of the council from its inception and believes Haiti needs to be governed by technocrats rather than politicians to help get it back to democratic order.

He noted that in the 1950s, when Haiti tried a similar presidential-panel experiment and failed, the country didn’t have all of the problems it currently has: more than 5 million people going hungry, 700,000-plus internally displaced and thousands killed by gangs, which in the last year have gained more territory despite the presence of the international security force.

“We are on the road to genocide from a civil war or a coup d’etat,” Lapin said.

Last month, several sectors involved in the transitional government requested the help of CARICOM after accusing the council of endangering the transition. In a three-page letter, political leaders said several recent decisions by the council had violated the spirit of the political agreement they signed in April.

Among the decisions, they noted the November dismissal of Prime Minister Garry Conille after less than six months and his replacement him with businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, and the naming of several new people on the country’s diplomatic staff. All the moves were led by current council President Leslie Voltaire. The representative of the Fanmi Lavalas party on the council, Voltaire has been accused of not doing enough to address the corruption scandal and relying on the support of the three accused council members to consolidate his power since taking over the rotating presidency in November. Though Fanmi Lavalas has also publicly criticized Voltaire’s handling of the crisis, political opponents have accused Voltaire of making decisions to benefit the party and its allies ahead of elections.

Voltaire has not addressed the accusations. During a ceremony on Jan. 1 celebrating the 221st anniversary of Haiti’s independence, he declared that in 2025 Haiti would be at war to free itself from the gangs and promised that the government would “free all roadways controlled by gangs. We will secure ports and airports to ensure the free movement of people and goods.”

The corruption scandal involves council members Louis Gérald Gilles, Smith Augustin and Emmanuel Vertilaire. All three have insisted on their innocence and refused to step aside while continuing to take part in critical decisions.

Last month, the three also declined a request from an investigative judge to answer questions about the allegations that they had demanded the equivalent of $758,000 from the chairman of the state-owned National Bank of Credit, Raoul Pierre-Louis, for him to keep his job.

The judge was assigned to the case after a report by the country’s Anti-Corruption Unit accused the three council members of corruption and called for a criminal investigation. The same report also implicated Pierre-Louis after investigators said he issued credit cards to the council members without going through proper procedures.

The scandal, which members of the foreign diplomatic corps ignored for months, has laid bare the shortsightedness of the transition, which was rushed through as a powerful coalition of armed gangs led a deadly assault on the capital in late February and March. In helping forge the new structure, neither Washington nor Haitian leaders put in place mechanisms to deal with corruption or to clearly define what rights and privileges members of the executive panel had.

In a post on X, attorney Andre Michel, who is part of December 21 group, said the latest report by the United Nations confirming that more than 5,600 people were killed last year by armed gangs “confirms the total failure” of the presidential council.

“With such a catastrophic record, it is clear that this (council), de-legitimized and discredited ... will not be able to carry out either the constitutional referendum or the elections at the end of this year,” he said. “Necessary corrections must be made as quickly as possible to save the Transition. The December 21 agreement will fully assume its responsibilities.”

Several sectors involved in the transition have admitted that they have no influence over their representatives. At least one, the Collective, has publicly disavowed its member on the council, Edgard Leblanc, after he refused to heed its call to step down. Both EDE and the December 21 group have been unable to get their respective members, who are among the three accused of corruption, to step down.

Caribbean leaders have assigned three former prime ministers to mediate the crisis. After responding to Haitian leaders’ plea last month, they asked for proposals.

While they are awaiting the proposals, CARICOM has no plans to take any decisions on behalf of Haiti’s political actors, a person with knowledge of the discussions told the Miami Herald. As is customary, the body will leave it up to Haiti’s politicians to find a consensus among themselves on how to proceed.

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