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Wyclef Jean confirms running for Haiti Presidency

Grammy-award-winning musician Wyclef Jean has confirmed that he will be running for the post of President in his native quake devastated Haiti.

Updated on: Aug 6, 2010, 12:19:43 IST
PTI | By , Los Angeles
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Grammy-award-winning musician Wyclef Jean has confirmed that he will be running for the post of President in his native quake devastated Haiti.

HT Image
HT Image

The 37-year-old singer plans to announce his bid to become the next president of the country, which will choose a new leader in November, People magazine reported.

"The suffering of the people of Haiti, the youth of Haiti – which is the majority of the population – can't take another five years of the corruption that's been going on for the past 200 years. This is why I'm running," Jean said.

The Hip-hop star, who is married to designer Marie Claudinette and has a daughter Angelina, moved to New York when he was 9-years-old, and found fame as a member of the Fugees before launching a career as a solo artist and founding the charity 'Yéele Haiti' in 2005.

He decided to run for the post of the President following the January 12 earthquake that shook the island nation, killing more than 200,000 people and leaving millions homeless.

"(My platform) has four pillars: education, job creation, instilling security into the culture, and, how do we get our agriculture back? Politics is a combat sport, so I expect nothing less than to be attacked everyday. But the focus should be how we help get the Haitian people out of this mess," Jean said.

"People have to understand I was (a UN Goodwill) ambassador for a couple of years. And my charity, being a (non-governmental organisation), I have leaned a lot," said the singer, whose last solo album, 'Haitian Experience' is set to hit stores in December.

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