Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina has sacked all his ministers, his office said, days after he criticised some of their performances as below par and weeks after officials said they had thwarted a plot to kill the former coup leader.
Rajoelina’s office gave no reason for the dismissals in a statement issued late on Wednesday.
On Sunday, Rajoelina said the performance of some ministers was unsatisfactory.
“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 this concerns those who do not carry out the work entrusted to them.”
Last week, a senior prosecutor said Madagascar had arrested 21 more suspects, including 12 military personnel, in connection with a plot to kill Rajoelina and topple the government. read more
Six people, one of them a French citizen, were arrested last month on suspicion of involvement in the plot, after what officials said was a months-long investigation in the Indian Ocean island. read more
Madagascar, an impoverished 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 his rival.
Rajoelina first took power in a March 2009 coup, unseating Marc Ravalomanana. He remained in control at the head of a transitional government until 2014.
In the 2019 elections, Ravalomanana challenged Rajoelina, lost, and said the vote was fraudulent.
more recommended stories
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov claims Zelensky has Jewish blood ‘just like Hitler’
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attacked.
Cooking oil shortages hit U.K. as war in Ukraine continues
Supermarket shoppers are preparing for limited.
Moscow: Supply lines for weapons shipments to Ukraine destroyed
Russian troops have destroyed six traction.
Russian air defense shot down plane with Western arms for Ukraine
Russian air defense units have brought.
The U.K. government will send illegal immigrants to Ruwanda
In a move that has been.
China Eastern Airlines Boeing with 132 on board crashes in China
A China Eastern Airlines plane carrying.
North Korea fires multiple-rocket launcher, South Korea says
North Korea appeared to have fired.
SA President Ramaphosa: NATO to blame for Russia’s war in Ukraine
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has.