President of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina, has asked for one year to fix the country’s problems, insisting that should they persist, he will resign.
During a town-hall style meeting at his palace with various groups of government supporters, Rajoelina made the astonishing revelation, taking into consideration the demands of citizens.
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Several attendees had the chance to ask the president questions or simply share their views, and he was right there to provide a response.
“I don’t want flattery. I want to hear the truth. It’s the people who kept telling me that everything was fine who are responsible for our current situation,” he said.
Gen Z Mada, known as the movement behind the protest, has been calling for the president to resign – and rejected an invitation to attend the talks.
To them, they cannot engage a government that has been repressing them as they demand basic human rights. According to the BBC, they have called for new protests on Thursday.
“We refuse the president’s invitation to talks. We will not engage in dialogue with a regime that represses, assaults, and humiliates its youth in the streets,” they wrote on their Facebook page.
As part of his pledge to “listen more”, Rajoelina has been holding these meetings, believing that the issues facing the Indian Ocean island nation can only be fixed through honest conversations and not protests.
The president of Madagascar convinced those present that ongoing power projects would address the recurring outages by adding 265 megawatts to the national grid.
“I swear that if power cuts persist in the capital within a year, I will resign,” he said.
On September 25, that the protests began, triggered by anger over persistent power and water shortages, and they have gone on to escalate into broader dissatisfaction over corruption, high unemployment, and the cost-of-living crisis.
Only a week ago, Rajoelina fired his entire government and appointed an army general as prime minister on Monday.
The protest movement still wasn’t pleased with the appointment and vowed to continue their struggle.
It was back in 2009 that Rajoelina came to power after leading mass protests that triggered military intervention and overthrew then-President Marc Ravalomanana.
Despite the fact that the youth-led movement continues to demand that he resigns, street protests appear to have dwindled.
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According to the United Nations, at least 22 people have died in clashes with security forces, and scores more have been injured, and authorities have disputed these figures.
