The challenge of good governance, a Presidential promise of action

Hery Rajaonarimampianina promised once  to make a reality out of good governance in order to “restore the Malagasy people’s confidence in the ruling State through the recovery of an effective State authority essential to the application of the Republic’s republican law all over the country.” The new president and his administration may and will start with the ones in the mirror: “Public services as a whole must be reprocessed for the sake of recovering its lost dignity in the eyes of the population, while insuring due status to civil servants in general.”
No less than some series of effective in depth reform of scores of administration bodies deemed to strengthen the State’s effectiveness are expected from President Hery Rajaonarimampianina in terms of public policy. Such an expected effectiveness will have to be felt everywhere at local levels, and reflected by local civil servants actively tackling the development of their respective area. The new Chief of State will first and foremost have to show evidence of an implementation of decentralization free from political schemes. Besides, a large scale update of his administration bodies’ means and methods would be more than necessary to meet his as well as the people’s expectations.
The social part of the good governance challenge consists into the reconstruction of public healthcare and education standards largely damaged by the transition. 400 basic healthcare centers have been sacrificed to focus on 8 “manara-penitra” (international standard) hospitals. Unlike the compelled pull of 600 000 children out of primary schools, such a kind of politically motivated choice has not yet critically affected the population. Still, mending what has been wrought in these fields can definitely not afford to wait for any next presidential mandate. Technical training and the production of qualified workers happens to be an emergency to industries, and the general compliance of graduations with job market realities remains part of the issue as well.
Its vulnerability in face of natural disasters equally constitutes a major factor which hampers Madagascar’s economic boom. Droughts, floods, cyclones, hails and locust swarms keep taking a much too unpredictable toll on economic development. The government needs to develop much more effective countermeasures against these inevitable matters of fact in order to avert disruptions and breakdowns of the economic engine.
The ruling power’s failure to beat the years 2012-2013’s locust swarms back could hardly be worse, as 60% of all crops were jeopardized by then. The Agriculture ministerial department conceded Ar 2 billions at the occasion, actually peanuts compared to the $ 43 billions required to reach any long term reprieve by treating 2 millions of Ha over 3 years. Madagascar’s economy would not possibly resist any food related crisis.
Next urgent issue on the table: security. Bank and financial institution hold ups on the rise do not boost economic development in any positive way. Urban security has been included into the President’s top priorities from scratch. Fair enough but what about rural areas? Widespread raids for cattle by “dahalo” outlaws have once brought many regions to the brink of collapse, and are resuming by now in 2014.
According to Hery Rajaonarimampianina, “These good governance measures must be strengthened by a totally unbiased justice capable of insuring the rule of law to each and everyone of us. We have and need to live in a a society in which corruption is being battled at every level.” The Malagasy people, largely more skeptical on this particular issue, are waiting for the President to show what he can.