Mr. Robas, show us your accounts before you ask for our votes

"M te toujou pami 10 meyè depite nan peyi a" — "I was always among the 10 best deputies in the country." So says Clauvy Robas, a lawyer and former deputy for Les Cayes and Île-à-Vache, in a video posted on September 23 and watched tens of thousands of times. He was answering rumors that his term made him rich. He is not rich, he insists. Even the small house he campaigns from is rented, he says.

Let us take him at his word. A man who ranks himself among the ten best lawmakers in the country should be able to prove it, with documents. He is now running for a Senate seat in the Sud. The office is higher, and so is the bar.

Start with the banners. Mr. Robas was elected in 2015 under the OPL flag. In August 2017, the site Rezo Nòdwès already described him as an OPL lawmaker "converted to Tèt Kalé." In October 2020, he became vice-president for political affairs of Lòd demokratik, a party that then denounced the "authoritarian drift" of the government he had stood beside. Last August, he announced his Senate bid with Ansanm Nou Fò. The Provisional Electoral Council's register now lists him under DEBLOKE. That is the same banner under which Michel Martelly has registered for president. The former head of state has been under U.S. Treasury sanctions since August 2024, accused of laundering drug money and sponsoring gangs. "Politisyen, yon fwa politisyen toujou" — once a politician, always a politician — says Mr. Robas. We take note. But a politician for which camp, this time?

Then comes the record. Mr. Robas chaired the Chamber of Deputies' Justice and Public Security committee. In February 2017, Le Nouvelliste quoted him after twenty inmates died at the National Penitentiary: he announced an inquiry into the causes of those deaths and promised to stop burials without autopsies. Where are that inquiry's findings? Which law bears the signature of the deputy from Les Cayes? We looked. We found nothing. The "best deputy" of the Sud left no trace worthy of the title he gives himself.

That leaves the money, and here the facts weigh more. On November 15, 2023, the Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC) sent prosecutors a report on the heavy equipment of the National Equipment Center (CNE). It recommended legal action against several former lawmakers, including "former deputy Clovis Obas," in the list published by Gazette Haïti; Le Nouvelliste writes "Clovis Robas." According to the published list, he held two Inter trucks, a compactor and a Mack truck belonging to the state. It is him: HaitiLibre describes him as the former deputy for Les Cayes and Île-à-Vache, and Le Nouvelliste already called him "Clovis Obas, deputy for Les Cayes and Île-à-Vache" in December 2018. His answer at the time: a threat to take the ULCC to criminal court if it did not withdraw its accusations within eight days. In January 2024, investigating judge Al Duniel Dimanche listed "Clovis Obas (Robas)" among thirty-seven figures targeted by warrants to appear, nationally and through Interpol, alongside Michel Martelly, Jocelerme Privert and Laurent Lamothe. In his September videos, the ones we reviewed, the former deputy says not a word about those trucks.

In another video, posted on September 22, Mr. Robas says he never touched the funds meant for the communes. According to him, the Ministry of Economy and Finance paid the money directly to the town halls and the CASECs. On air, he reads a long text about the 2017-2018 budget law and invites everyone to check it on Google. His own figures do not match: one million gourdes per CASEC at the start of the video, two million a few minutes later. Along the way, he points at other local officials. Accusing others does not prove one's own honesty. That is shown with documents. The 2008 law requires lawmakers to declare their assets when they take office and when they leave it. Where are those declarations?

There is also the matter of family. On August 30, 2017, Franceline Cadet Robas, then the deputy's wife, was installed as head of the National Library of Haiti by Culture Minister Limond Toussaint. She stayed until April 2020. Her husband then sat with the governing camp. Le Nouvelliste said it as early as 2018: "With a wave of the wand, Franceline Cadet Robas, the wife of the deputy for Les Cayes/Île-à-Vache, Clauvy Robas, finds herself at the head of the country's greatest written heritage." According to the same article, she had run a real estate and travel agency in Les Cayes, then held a job at Parliament, just before her appointment by presidential decree on August 14, 2017. She herself conceded she had "no experience or knowledge in the field." Nothing bars a lawmaker's wife from running a public institution. But when a deputy whose job is to oversee the executive sees his wife appointed by that same executive, voters have a right to know how the appointment was decided. The couple have since divorced: the Port-au-Prince civil court granted the divorce on December 18, 2025, at Mr. Robas's request, according to a court notice published in Le Nouvelliste on February 23, 2026.

The rumors are not new either. In November 2016, after Hurricane Matthew, the site Rezo Nòdwès reported that the deputy had gone to the Sonapi, where relief supplies were stored, to claim his share. Under his September videos, commenters accuse him of leaving with sheet metal and planks meant for the victims. Others mention a large house built in little time. In Les Cayes, people also talk of a great deal of land said to belong to him, at Bourjolly, in the Mercy communal section, and at Laval. We found no investigation and no document confirming these stories, and we do not present them as facts. But Mr. Robas, so quick to answer rumors about his wealth, said nothing about the Sonapi or the land in the videos we reviewed. Silence does not serve him here.

One could plead slander. Social media is full of accusations without proof, and no elected official escapes them. That is true. But the best answer to a rumor is not an indignant video. It is a public record that anyone can check.

Let us be fair. A ULCC recommendation is not a conviction, and a warrant to appear is not a verdict. Judge Dimanche's order was challenged by anti-corruption groups over procedure, and the judge's term ended on January 29, 2024. We found no judgment against Clauvy Robas. He remains presumed innocent. The stories about the Sonapi, the house and the land remain, to date, rumors. Mr. Robas hosts a civic-education program on Radio VPS. He chose to answer his critics in public, which many refuse to do.

But a Senate candidate owes more than an answer. Mr. Robas should say where the CNE trucks and compactor are, and whether they were returned to the state. He should say whether he appeared before the court. He should answer about the Sonapi and explain his then-wife's appointment. He should publish his asset declarations from 2016 and 2020. He should present the work of his committee. He should say plainly whether he supports Michel Martelly's candidacy. Voters in the Sud, in Les Cayes, on Île-à-Vache and across the diaspora, should demand those answers before the vote.

Mr. Robas says he was one of the ten best deputies in the country. Let him prove it with his accounts, not with his videos.

Right of reply: NAGO will publish, promptly and on the same terms, any response from Mr. Robas or anyone named in this editorial, with supporting documents, sent via nago.tv/contact. We will correct any fact shown to be inaccurate.