PORT-AU-PRINCE, 8 February, 2021 (TON): Nearly two dozen people, including a Supreme Court Judge have been arrested by the Haitian authorities on Sunday, for alleged plotting to oust the President Jovenel Moise responsible for political tensions in the troubled country.

Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe told the media at his private residence that a senior police official was also among the 23 people detained with money, guns and ammunition.

Speaking alongside the minister of justice and the chief of police, Jouthe said, “These people had contacted national palace security officials, high-ranking officers of the national palace whose mission was to arrest the president and also to facilitate the installation of a new president.”

Speaking later at the Port-Au-Prince airport on his way to launch the annual carnival in the town of Kacmei, President Moise said that the plotters aimed to make an attempt on his life.

The arrests come after leading opposition figures this week announced a plan to replace Moise with a new head of state, accusing the president of being authoritarian and presiding over economic chaos in the Western hemisphere’s poorest country.

Street protests against Moise were done in some of the towns and earlier on Sunday, the anti-government protestors clashed with the police.

The opposition plan called for members of civil society and opposition leaders to pick a new president from one of the sitting Supreme Court judges, instead of waiting for general elections scheduled for September.

Moise stated that the he would hand over the power to the elected winner of the elections but would not step down till his tenure expires, i.e. 2022.

The U.S. government encouraged to ease the crisis while stating that a new president should be elected in place of Moise when his term ends on 2 February, 2022.

Moise, who has ruled by decree since mid-January, has stated he would hand over power to the winner of the elections but would not step down until his term expires in 2022.

Moise has also put in place plans to hold a referendum on amending the constitution in April, with the opposition voicing concerns the vote will not be free or fair and could give Moise too much power.

The Caribbean country has badly been under economical failures and also been paralyzed by a spike in kidnappings and a sharp rise in the crime overall that has weighed on the economy and influenced the quality of life of an ordinary man.