As ‘Sweet Micky,’ Haiti’s charismatic president built a reputation as the king of carnival by denouncing governments, mooning politicians and being outrageously anti-establish-ment.

Now, as president of Haiti, some say Michel Martelly is banning other artists from taking part in this year’s carnival celebration for doing the same thing he did as a singer: criticizing the government.

Lead singers behind some of this season’s most controversial carnival tunes — most of them critical of the Martelly government — say they were disinvited from being among the 15 bands to be featured on floats for this year’s carnival.

“As young artists, we learned how to do this from him, watching him denounce government after government,” said Don Kato of the group Brothers Posse, whose alleged ban has lit up social media and become a lead story for Haitian journalists. “It makes no sense that as an artist I can’t sing about the environment I am living in, and you want to sanction me because I’m not singing in favor of you.”

Political pulse

In a country where past carnival songs have predicted the fate of governments, carnival lyrics are viewed as the social and political pulse of the country. In the past 20 years, some have even predicted the fates of governments, which Martelly acknowledged in a radio interview Friday, saying songs have the power to “overthrow a government.” Already, political journalists and opposition lawmakers are employing the song lyrics in their own analysis of Haiti’s current rough political waters.

In the interview on Port-au-Prince’s Scoop FM radio, Martelly said it’s not automatic that an artist would be chosen to perform during carnival. He added that Kato’s song “doesn’t bother me.”

Still, Martelly hinted that the group’s carnival Aloral, accusing his government of being all talk, is not consistent with this year’s environmental theme and would not create the kind of ambience his government was seeking when it took the annual three-day pre-Lenten cultural showcase, which begins Sunday, out of the capital Sunday. He said the intent is to boost tourism.

“It’s a party that’s being organized; it’s not a protest,” Martelly said. “The carnival is not like it was a long time ago. Before it was do as you like, take to the streets.”

As the interviewed aired Friday, Martelly toured a spruced-up Cap-Haitien on foot where some were preparing Aloral T-shirts, and others were preparing red posters — a symbol of failure in soccer — to wave during the weekend. Kato, who is from Cap-Haitien, has called for calm among his fans and said he plans to stay away from the festivities.

Martelly said the band lineup was selected by an 18-member carnival committee he appointed. He personally chose three bands and “intervened once” after the committee prematurely announced the lineup, which included Brothers Posse.

“I called the committee and I told them, ‘Careful … I would suggest you listen to the carnivals first,’ ” Martelly said.

Haiti roots band Kanpech also won’t be on a float for the second year in a row. Lead singer Frederic “Fredo” Pierre Louis said the decision came from Martelly.

“This isn’t being decided by a group of five or six people; it’s one person,” said Pierre Louis, whose song Nou Pap Ka Mate l is a clever play on “Martelly’s” name as a derivative of a laundry list of government actions the Haitian people can no longer tolerate.