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WYCLEF JEAN I' AM THE THE RIGHT PERSON

Wyclef Jean: ‘I Am the Right Person’ for Haiti

Wyclef Jean, center, greets supporters from the top of a vehicle after submitting the paperwork to run for president of Haiti in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010.

*Wyclef Jean has written an article in the Wall Street Journal defending his decision to run for the presidency of Haiti.

“While I don’t pretend to be a miracle worker, I wholeheartedly believe that at this important time in Haiti’s history, I am the right person to put the country on the road to the brighter future it so desperately needs and deserves,” Jean wrote in the article published today.

Jean entered the presidential race last week, jetting into the Caribbean nation on a private plane and asking Haitians to give him “power for change.”

While his decision to run has won support in Haiti, where many hail him as a hero, he has also drawn criticism from figures skeptical of a hip-hop star in the national palace. But Jean wrote that Haiti needed a president “who can turn promises into reality — someone who will crisscross the earth and convince world leaders” to help the Haitian people economically.

“We also need to cultivate Haiti’s rich culture of entrepreneurship by increasing the availability of microcredit and simplifying laws and bureaucracy,” the musician stressed.

Jean lives in the New York area but has traveled to Haiti multiple times seeking to defuse gang violence and help the poorest Haitians. He has said his inspiration to enter politics emerged from the devastating January earthquake that left 250,000 people dead and 1.5 million homeless.