Above: Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe with MINUSTAH peacekeepers last week (Photo: OPM Haiti)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Haiti’s Executive Branch has filed new 10 bills with the Chamber of Deputies, according to Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe.

The bills are highlighted by legislation creating a National Fund for Education, which would fund the administration’s programme of free education.

Also awaiting parliamentary approval are a series of bills including a draft law on consumer protection; a bill fixing the number and names of ministries; a bill amending certain articles of the law of June 10, 2009, which lays down general rules on public procurement.

Also included are bills establishing a National Centre for Standardization, Certification and Promotion; a bill covering the organization and functioning of the central services of the Prime Minister; a bill relating to quality control of foodstuffs, a bill sanctioning money laundering and financing of terrorism, an e-government bill and a bill on electronic exchanges.

Lamothe and Martelly, in a statement, said the bills intended to fill the “legal vacuum” in many areas in Haiti, and that the administration would continue to work with Haiti’s Parliament to develop a “viable body of law adapted to the proper functioning of the Haitian state.”