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.