Wyclef Takes Outrage Over Disqualification to the Web

Wyclef Jean has taken his frustrations about being disqualified from the Haitian presidential election to the Internet, releasing a song, “Prison for the CEP,” via Twitter with a call for “equal rights and justice.” His anger is falling on mostly deaf ears since the decisions of the council are final. Still, he says he’ll challenge the ruling, which concluded that residency issues barred him from running.

Newsweek enlisted two Creole speakers to translate the song, which was recorded in the Haitian dialect to respond to those who’ve said Wyclef can’t speak the language. The translation reads like one long whine about how Wyclef was wronged and it’s not him that’s been rejected, but the will of the people.

Initially, Wyclef responded with a letter the expressed more disappointment than anger over the situation. “I want to assure my countrymen that I will continue to work for Haiti’s renewal; though the board has determined that I am not a resident of Haiti, home is where the heart is-and my heart has and will always be in Haiti,” the letter says. Euro RSCG Worldwide president Marian Salzman wrote a column for the Huffington Post listing all the positive things she’d learned from the musician after working with him.

In the end, the will of the Haitian people is to rebuild their country. Let’s hope Wyclef will be true to these words and throw his support behind whatever will get that job done.

[Image via Wyclef Jean website]

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