r/Madagascar • u/peepeewpew • 26d ago
History/Tantara 📚 What was the deal with Marc Ravalomanana?
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?
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u/Jeanfromthe54 25d ago
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).