2009-2011: the illegal transition impoverished Madagascar

Madagascar is every day further away from reaching the millenium development goal. The poverty rate has reached 76% in 2011, plus 8% compared to that of 2008. This rate concerns the people making a living with less than 1 dollar a day. The country was yet on the right way to reach these millenium development goals through the former regime´s Madagascar program Action Plan. 

Before the political crisis, the situation was especially favorable in three different fields: Education for all, fight against AIDS, and health of mother and child. The unconstitutional government change which took place by the beginning of 2009 has upset everything. 498 mothers out of 100 000 died when giving birth. 42 000 children between 6 and12 years old are leaving school. No matter the dictating authority´s say, the suspension of foreign financial support is burdening on the Malagasy people´s life standard. 

The state is able to run its vital functions with its resources, but nearly 70% of investments are usually provided by foreign financial supports. The HAT regime´s poor economic performance is therefore no surprise, not to mention the world crisis. On the other hand, socially speaking, the verdict is more than despicable. 

The United Nations´spokeswoman in Madagascar revealed that the malnutrition rate in Madagascar is the highest in Africa. “It is even worse than in the Sahel´s countries “, declared Fatima Samoura. Only Afghanistan and Haiti worldwide are in a worse nutritional situation than this island. Afghanistan has decades of war and political instability on its back, and Haiti, civil war and natural disaster. What´s Madagascar´s excuse? No civil war, no cataclysm, but no peace though. 

The United Nations is holding the settlement of the political crisis and the recovery of constitutional order as the only ways to tackle the issue. “There will be no internationally recognized government prior to elections “, declared Fatima Samoura. The so named government of consensus erected by the Rajoelina-Vital tandem “cannot be recognized”. The international helps will remain, financial support will remain suspended. 

The United Nations definitely do not want to punish the Malagasy people. “We decided to extend collaboration until 2013 “, announced the spokeswoman. The Great Isle´s international partners chose five fields to support, namely governance, solidarity, the related infrastructures and the sectors with a strong potential like education and family planning. In two years of transition, Madagascar recovered its undisputed statute of one of the world´s poorest countries.