The current Malagasy president, Andry Rajoelina, is facing a wave of popular protest against his current management of the country but especially against the cost of living and corruption. After seven months of fighting the spread of Covid-19, health workers are still asking for their Covid premiums. On Monday, February 8, 2021, approximately 7,500 officers, including nurses, laboratory technicians and midwives, began a strike to denounce the failure of their funds promised by the Ministry of Health.
The discontent of health care workers is just an extension of a large demonstration on Saturday, February 6, by more than 5,000 people, including political activists, MPs, vendors, restaurateurs, garagistes and even government officials. They met on the hill of the Imerinkasinina, about thirty kilometers from Antananarivo, the Malagasy capital, to denounce the non-payment of their prize from the President of the Republic, Andry Rajoelina, but also the rising cost of living during this pandemic. The price of food Rice, which usually sells at 2,000 ariary per kilo or 45 cents of euros, now stands at around 4,000 ariary, at the same time the bottle of oil is sold at 8,000 to 9,000 ariary instead of 7,000.
The findings of the latest report by Transparency International Madagascar, published at the end of January 2021, further undermine the Malagasy government. The document entitled “Covid-19 and governance: lessons learned from the first phase of the health crisis in Madagascar”, reports strong corruption on the occasion of the distribution of social aid developed by the State and implemented by the National Bureau for Risk and Disaster Management (BNGRC) and the Development Intervention Fund (FID).
The survey conducted by Transparency International in the Atsinanana and Analamanga regions reveals wrongdoing at all levels. According to Ketakandriana Rafitoson, executive director of the institution, out of 404 households receiving social assistance, “27% of them – or 109 households – have reported corruption related to the distribution of these social assistance; 57.7% of reported corruption is related to the nepotism of those responsible for the distribution of aid; 31.2% concern misappropriation.”
During this big rally on February 6, 2021, Me Hanitra Razafimanantsoa, deputy of the TIM party (I love Madagascar) of the 1st district of Antananarivo, expresses his concerns about the managerial capacities of the current president, Andry Rajoelina. “We see that the executive can no longer control the situation: the promises made during the election campaign have not been kept. We also dispute the way the government has conducted the fight against the pandemic: there has been no transparency in the management of aid funds […] We have demanded answers at the level of the Assembly, continues the elected official. How were the funds used? Who were the beneficiaries? To date, we have not received any answers,” she said.
Andry Rajoelina, President of the Republic of Madagascar since 18 January 2019, has his work cut out for him. It will have to try to contain these demonstrations and above all satisfy the strong social demand in a context of health crisis that has led to an economic crisis.
