Open Letter to Andry Rajoelina (translation) #Madagascar

Mr President of the Transition,

We understand that the current situation is not easy to deal with. We also understand that, despite the hard-earned title of President you obtained at the Addis Ababa meeting, a solution to the present dire circumstances in Madagascar is not solely dependent on your will. But our tolerance stops here.

The country has now been marred in a deep crisis for alomst a year. The sacrifices requested of the Malagasy citizens grow larger every day.

It was agreed upon during the Addis Ababa meeting that a government of unity would carry out the transition towards elections. We are still waiting for that government to come to fruition. The negotiations are clearly very strenuous. We would not have expected any less from politicians trying to hold on/gain seats. We are only human after all.

But that is not the object of this letter. What is unacceptable is that while you all are trying to share the pie that is the government, thousands of jobs will vanish into thin air ( on top of the thousands already lost) because we could not agree upon who will take care of this issue

Mr Rajoelina, you were apparently in the Northen part of the island, Nosy-Be, while the negotations were taking place. We understand it is never too early to start a presidential campaign event hough you are constitutionally unqualified to run ( age limit). It is a high time you start to care for the vahoaka ( people) you called upon so often during your coup and whom you said you spoke on behalf of. The southern region where these women are employed( by the AGOA treaty) was not a good enough destination to visit ?

Was it the growing famine or the ecological disaster that scared you away ? Or maybe you were afraid to come face to face with your former partner, Monja Roindefo, whom you have now let go for your own political ambition ?

It seems you were able to find a job for your father though, with a Honk Kong based oil company SUNPEC. I am sure he is very qualified in the matter of oil extraction just like Jean Sarkozy was to run EPAD. However, these thousands of women in the South already proved that they were qualified at their jobs, don’t they deserve to keep their jobs ?

Enough is enough.

Show some abnegation and fight for the jobs of these women with the USTR. No one in the world has a lwer opinion of you than I do right now and yet I am still convinced that even you can convince the AGOA decision makers that it is a bad a idea to withdraw their support. They are thinking about it because they don’t trust you and quite frankly, most malagasy don’t either. You have yet to show that you deserve the benefit of the doubt: You organized a coup, you bragged publicly about having the support of foreign power to depose a government, you assigned SAGEM, a pawn in the Francafrique network to monitor the futur elections, you promoted Cdt Charles as the chief of security, even letting him give legal lessons in press conference when he was notorious for jailing and torturing Malagasy citizens.

After all, it is because you, Mr Rajoelina, took power unconstitutionally that these women are on the verge of losing their jobs. Trust is a very fragile thing, still I think you can still make amend and do the right thing. You can save these women’s jobs by going to the USTR. They at least had the decency to respond to question from the American tax payers about their decision with respect to AGOA in Madagascar. Now it is your turn to show you are also capable of transparency, if not for your father new position, at least for your effort ( or lack there of) to save these women.

There was a time when I was in awe of your talents as an MC in Malagasy parties. I was even intrigued when you decided to engage into politics. That time is over now. I have nothing but contempt for your ability as a statesman. A gesture for the women of the AGOA would go a long way to prove me wrong.

Respectfully,

Lova