2024-04-24 05:53:56
Yesterday’s imprisonment of Olga Ramalason, former mayor of Antsirabe and former minister under the colors of Marc Ravalomanana’s party, is the latest episode in a turbulent road towards the legislative elections. Reasons given: land affairs dating back to 2009, when she was head of the municipality of Antsirabe. In several localities, opposition legislative candidates find themselves facing various problems, including legal ones, for various more or less fallacious reasons. These give rise to suspicions of maneuvers with a single objective: to prevent these opponents from winning seats in the National Assembly. The stakes are high for those in power: it is a question of curbing at any price and by any means the potential of the opposition to control the lower house of Parliament, because this would risk opening a boulevard to embarrassing scenarios for the Executive which could go as far as motions of censure or impediment.
We’re not going to beat around the bush. According to all the reliable indicators (Freedom House, Economist Intelligence Unit, V-Dem project of the University of Gottenburg in Sweden, Reporters without Borders etc.), Madagascar has never been a democracy since 1960 until today. There have certainly been times better than others, like under the Presidency of Professor Zafy, just as there have been times worse than others, like under the first and second republics, or under the 2009-2013 Transition. . The graph at the bottom of the article clearly shows the two “black” periods during which Madagascar plunged below 0.2 on an indicator ranging from 0 to 1: 1960-1992, and 2009-2013. These are also the two periods in history where the country is doing worse than Rwanda. For comparison, the curve of Botswana, one of the most stable democracies in Africa, as well as that of Senegal, have been added. Only those who rely on their critical sense will maintain that Andry Rajoelina is a champion of democracy, under the pretext that he inaugurated the eponymous square, otherwise single-use like Kleenex.
As expected, the facts and figures attest to the autocratic excesses of Andry Rajoelina since his re-election for a second term. But ultimately, what could be more normal from an author of a coup d’état, whose levels of education and political culture did not allow sufficient preparation for respect for morality and constitutional rules. Andry Rajoelina is therefore an entirely “African” head of state, but African in the sixties style. Indeed, Africa has also for decades offered some good examples of democrats who respect democratic values and especially the Constitution of their country. Unfortunately, the boss of the Executive is more inspired by the style of personalities like Robert Mugabe, Paul Kagame, Faure Gnassingbé or Denis Sassou-Nguesso: the main thing is to find the means to protect power in order to hang on to it. It doesn’t matter how, it’s the result that counts. “We don’t organize elections to lose them,” former Congolese head of state Pascal Lissouba is said to have said. We just have to hope that the inspiration will not reach Bokassa.
Bringing public administrations into line, intimidation of civil society leaders, arrests of opponents or whistleblowers, manipulation of the electoral system, requests to recall an ambassador who was too frank in his criticisms, and in recent weeks, intensification maneuvers to prevent opponents from implementing their candidacy: administrative harassment in finalizing their files, intimidation in various forms, arrests. The idea of power is to configure the landscape upstream, so that downstream the electoral results look clean, once the competition has been cleared of dangerous candidates.
Ultimately, the legislative elections will be like the last presidential election: an electoral game from the start biased to ensure the election of state candidates, claimed to be spotless and blameless by the power in place, endorsed by a High Constitutional Court supposedly independent, and agreed to by an international community of dubious lucidity, despite the clear message of the eloquent silence of the abstentionists.
In fact, since the Malagasy Justice system is showing zeal and memory by focusing on files dating back to 2009 as in the case of Madame Ramalason, we wonder with curiosity what it is going to do about the acts of coup. State, mutinies, vandalism and destruction of public property that took place that year.
Liberal democracy indicator for Madagascar and three other African countries (Source: V-Dem Project, University of Gottenburg, Sweden)
#Démocrafika #MadagascarTribune.com