An expatriate’s dream of a better tomorrow for Madagascar

I left Madagascar some 26 years ago, shortly after Ratsiraka came to power. Very few people, really knew why exactly I decided to uproot myself. I would have to admit that simple economics did play a big role, but it was far from the key factor behind my decision to immigrate to a land I hardly knew. I left because I could no longer stand the rampant abuse of power, the nepotism, and the corruption which the existing establishment fully condoned. I left because ethnically I was an “Andevo”, and I was outraged at being considered a slave, and a pariah in my own land. I left because, like Martin Luther King, I too had a dream, “a dream that one day I would live in a world where I would be judged, not by the texture of my hair, but by the content of my character. Every time I came back for a visit, I kept hoping that things would be better, but to my greatest disappointment, not much ever changed. In fact, it appeared to me that the situation has gotten much worse, rather than better. I kept coming back to an impoverished Island, populated by a stoic, proud, and peace-loving people whose weary faces read like a roadmap replica of the twelve stations of the cross, and who had been battered for so long by selfish leaders who were more interested in lining their own pockets, than in bettering their country, and the lot of their fellow citizens.

Today, as I watch the new administration take charge, I have renewed hopes, and best wishes for the leadership, and my fellow citizens. I see at the helm a maverick leader who has the vision and the courage to put his personal enrichment aside, and lead the Island into a prosperous 21st century, rather than back into the dark ages. I see a progressive leader who can tell the difference between a dictatorship, and a truly democratic system, and will never betray his fellow citizens by abusing his power. I see a dynamic leader who can effect meaningful positive changes in the lives of his fellow citizens. I see a renaissance leader who would encourage his constituents to stand as one, regardless of their ethnic origin or background. I see a “kinder and gentler” leader who would provide equal access to a quality healthcare to every single citizen. I see a leader who is wise enough, in his quest for justice, not to become the very evil that he abhors.

Finally, inasmuch as the children are our future, I hope that this new leadership would realize that, indeed, “a mind is a terrible thing to waste”, and put the children among their top priorities by revolutionizing the educational system in such a way that no child is ever left behind, every child can become whatever he or she wishes to be, and every child can compete successfully in the local and international arena.