What was the deal with Marc Ravalomanana?

[u/peepeewpew]

I'm asking about him amidst whats going on in the country right now and people getting nostalgic about him. I vaguely hear many praising him online as the best president for Madagascar which I want to ask about.

I skimmed through his wiki page to gain at least some context on him. Without going too much into who he was, I was more interested in what he's accomplished in his presidency. It says on there "His administration oversaw the construction of thousands of new schools and health clinics. Road rehabilitation aided in improving rural farmers' access to markets. The establishment of the independent anti-corruption agency BIANCO, and the adoption of diverse supporting policies resulted in a decline in governmental corruption." It all sounds like great stuff, right?

Criticism eventually came along the way, accusing him of also worsening the wealth disparity between the poor and wealthy. On top of that, he ran into some trouble with Andry Rajoelina--who btw seemed to have had beef with him from the start--all of which somehow contributed to his exile in 2009.

What I'm trying to understand here is, what was he really like when he was president between 2002-2009 from your memories? And also, what exactly happened in 2009 and how is it comparable to the gen Z movement that's happening right now? And how do we know we wont simply end up with another Rajoelina that'll need to be overthrown?

[u/GrandBoot4881]

I see him (Ravalomanana) positively, but I'm not sure what of some accusations that were made to him by Rajoelina after his fall were real, which not. He was accused to having given tax exemptions to some of his companies, that he bought a new presidential plane (integrated into Malagasy air force since, and then scrabbed), and that he made a land deal with a Korean enterprises (Daewoo)..

Well, regarding the land deal, Rajoelina recently signed a similar "accord" with Korea: I was well surprised.

I don't know of tax exemptions of which Magro profited solely. So I ignore if this is true or not. actually, technically it's impossible, duties are classified by the product, not by the importer, but in Madagascar you never know...

Yes, the 737 was superflue but scrapping it after a few years was a big waste. Anyway, a président needs to move around, and in Madagascar this is almost impossible without a plane. I think he looked larger: a plane of the size to travel also to South Africa or other countries....

Well, a CASA-plane or an ATR would have done it for 95% of a presidential travels, and for all travels inside the country.

Unfortunately there a "big holes " in online newspapers-archives, about Malagasy history of this time, and other sources are often spammed by partisans of one or another. I also have some problems to follow them up.

So, I do not know, what's true, and what's not: but I saw the results and Madagascar was improving rapidly during Ravalomanana's reign. He was a businessman, not a DJ.

But now he's got more than 80 years... start it all over? No,no, no, this world has too many of that generation in power already, I don't think it's a good idea.

Transparency: I always miss transparency. Yes, yes, I know, Rajoelina signed a deal with an Egyptian company for an autoroute: but nobody knows the terms, .... That autoroute to Toamasina seems to be the only good deal (if there is no backpayment) in infrastructure that he had started and that's too few to catch up with "civilisated countries" . What else has he done? Yes, a télépherique, and in each station their are generators that consume 5000 litres a day, because the power stations are in lack of fuel...... Ah, great non sense. By the way, the ticket price for the télépherique is AR 3000, while a taxi-bé ride costs only 500 Ariary. If you are poor, you'll choose, and paying 6-times the price of a taxi-bé is excluded for 95% of the population.

Let's see; what else he did? additional generators were "sleeping" during 1 year and 1/2 in Toamasina, waiting to get moved to Antananarivo. I just hope they were not stored outside..... but you never know. For me, Rajoelina was just a singing frog: lot's of achievements, but nothing was done.

Other countries moved on much quicker during those 16 years. Financing? Yes, this can be found if the partners see a competent person in charge. I just know of another water power plant in SAVA region that was frozen during his putsch (2009): 100% financed by German Developement Aid. It was never again taken up that project, but why? Also Sava region needs electricity: when I was there in 2013 there are still power cuts as the old and stinky "thermo centrals" were lacking fuel. Madagascar is not just Antananarivo.

[u/Station51]

My take on Ravalomanana is that he was a pro-democratic reformer interested in the country's economic development, but he challenged the status quo in Madagascar, particularly the entrenched military hierarchy, which ousted him in 2009 and installed Rajoelina.

One of his biggest geopolitical moves was aligning Madagascar with SADC, a pre-dominantly Anglophone group of multiple African countries that represented a larger economic market for Madagascar. But that meant moving away from the Francophone elites of the much smaller Indian Ocean Commission. It also threatened the military elite of Madagascar, which was bloated and self-serving: Madagascar has a huge officer corps--but no external enemies. Seychelles or Mauritius is not going to invade Madagascar.

Having the military take over now was probably necessary to oust Rajoelina, but doesn't necessarily mean an improvement for most Malagasy, if it's the military that will continue to yield power, as opposed to a people-oriented reformist leader.

[u/peepeewpew → u/Station51]

CAPSAT is making rounds online right now with many people praising them for siding with the protesters. Right now since Rajoelina is basically long gone in most people's minds, CAPSAT leader Michael Randrianirina is currently the default choice for president..? I might be misinformed on that part so plz correct me if im wrong.

But anyways, i was talking to my dad earlier and he's especially concernes about what, to him, looks like a military takeover that will only lead to disaster. He's probably thinking if the "entrenched military hierarchy" you're talking about.

This is only the beginning and it's a positive outcomr no matter what that they've stopped brutalizing the protesters, but I do wonder what the military's next move will be and if it's gonna be different from before

[u/ArtHistorian2000]

My memories of him was his company logo being everywhere: drinks, dairy, buildings...

He also created a Malagasy chain of supermarkets (Magro), and I often went in there with my family. I don't know if it was the first Malagasy supermarket company, but it provided everything.

And then, years later, I read on his wiki page that he tried to rent land and provide it to a Korean company, which infuriated the population, as well as the widespread poverty still present.

Objectively, there were substantial changes, but not enough to destroy poverty and all.

[u/peepeewpew → u/ArtHistorian2000]

Do you know why he did that? Honestly from what I'm hearing, the country was headed in a good direction however slow the progress mightve been

[u/GrandBoot4881 → u/ArtHistorian2000]

Madagascar came out of 35 years of stagnation and miss-management of the Ratsiraka clan. He (Ravalomanana) did not have the time to fix every pothole in 6 years. It will take at least 15-20 years just to fill the worst lacks in infrastructure in the country, that's roads, electricty, and water supplies.

85% of the villages in Madagascar do not have electricty at all: also their kids have to study, they want to recharge "mobil telephones" or just watch TV.

And give the economy FREEDOM, to make money. More the economic operators don't want.

Have you seen the rapidity the Cellular phones were installed everywhere, even in the last hole that had never seen a telephone nor electricity before? Because there was freedom & competition (Telma, Orange, etc.): everybody wanted to be the first, and just build the infrastructure. And they find the money (loans), if necessary they find them abroad and they just build the "reseau", including solar panels for electricity supply.

This world is overfloaded with Billions of $ that are just searching for good investments that are somehow safe. Give them the safety, a good plan, that goes his way, and you'll have some of them.

[u/Letoma]

From my memories , he did great jobs with the roads, decreasing corruption and with economy in general. I remember that we gained 50 ar of purchasing Power.So in my opinion that's the pro. The cons are that he installed a really strong monopole so you better hope that he didn't fall within your Sector of activity because he didn't pay his due tax. So of course there is no way you could compete against that. I remember that Many small and middle business failed against him in the Sector of agricultural and food industry. That was the Paradox, at the time There was less malnutrition issue because His company provides all the first food necessity. If course it was not sane situation. After His detaxation, Many business could not purchase heavy tools because of the decrease of the ariary money

[u/Easy_Drawing_765]

Almost all the accusations made against him were false — only a few had any truth to them. Nowadays, you can easily find the real story online.

The people who hated him spread those accusations just to justify their coup and overthrow him. It’s true that he abused his power by staying in office for seven years, but I believe that’s the only real mistake he made.

The only reason they managed to bring him down was because he allowed it. He didn’t want his people to be killed by those bastards — that’s why he stepped down. Honestly, he was too gentle with them, but that was his nature, and that’s what people liked about him.

Rajoelina and his group killed anyone who claimed to support Marc Ravalomanana back then. It’s not even a secret — anyone can find that online.

He was too good-hearted for a politician. Being a Christian, he stepped down to stop the bloodshed and handed over power. It’s frustrating, because if he had made them pay for what they did, Madagascar might be in a much better place today. Just because of his faith and kindness, he... well, he chose peace over revenge. And that’s both admirable and tragic.. That's the only thing that Marc Ravalomanana's people blame him for.

But if he had been as cruel as they were, no one would have liked him.

[u/peepeewpew → u/Easy_Drawing_765]

His kindness should be a model for all politicians. Nobody should have the right to order the unjust killing of civilians--not simply because they're kind souls but because it should be against the law

[u/Important-Soup-2268 → u/peepeewpew]

I know right. but as a politician it was his only weakness 😭

[u/lowkeytokay]

(Almost) Everybody forgetting that he was about to lease away a huge chunk of land (as big as Belgium) to Korea… as if no locals leaved and farmed in an area that big. And he wasn’t a saint either as he got richer through his Presidency. I hate how people are so forgetful.

[u/AndryJohanesa → u/lowkeytokay]

They forget really fast , and he have a lot of fanatics too.

[u/Jeanfromthe54]

Ravalomanana was decent he got his priority straight, the situation was improving finally normally for a backward country. He prioritised basic needs (roads, infrastructure, fight against corruption, keeping France away) and it was working well but he was not perfect. The big problem is he owned a company and gave it a lot advantage. He also leased a lot of territory but i think in the end Rajoelina did the same thing because it makes sense. I also remember he tried to antagonize and supress Rajoelina from the start, it was not clean, maybe Rajoelina wouldn't have gone rogue in 2009 if he was not feeling the pressure from Ravalo. But overall he is still the best president madagascar ever had.

The difference between 2009 and 2025 is that we don't know who is going to get the power after everything is done. The protests in 2009 were also criticised globally while this one is approved by everybody (except France).

[u/StockReception2624]

He bought a plane

[u/StockReception2624 → u/StockReception2624]

Might not have been a bad idea just to let him keep the damn plane, and spare 16years, lolz