Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina has fired all his ministers, his office said, days after he criticized some of their achievements, as in par and weeks after officials said they had opposed a plan to kill the former coup leader.
Rajoelina’s office gave no reason for the dismissals in a statement issued late Wednesday.
On Sunday, Rajoelina said the performance of some ministers was unsatisfactory.
“Just like in a football team, you have to change when there are failures in government,” he said in comments broadcast on national television.
“There will be a change and it applies to those who do not carry out the work they have been entrusted with.”
Last week, a senior prosecutor said Madagascarhad arrested another 21 suspects, including 12 military personnel, in connection with a plan to kill Rajoelina and overthrow the government.
Six people, one of them a French citizen, were arrested last month on suspicion of involvement in the plot, according to officials, after a month-long investigation into the Indian Ocean.
Madagascar, a poor former French colony of 26 million, has a history of political violence and instability. Rajoelina, 44, was sworn in as president in 2019 after a hotly contested election and a constitutional court challenge from her rival.
Rajoelina first took power in a coup in March 2009, without sitting on Marc Ravalomanana. He kept control at the head of a transitional government until 2014.
In the 2019 election, Ravalomanana challenged Rajoelina, lost and said the vote was fraudulent.
(REUTERS)
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