Power cut at Ankatso: “a strategic action” according to Jean-Jules Harijaona

The day before yesterday, the JIRAMA team (meaning the Directors and Managers of that institution and not the simple employees) arrived at University of Antananarivo in order to cut down some electrical installations there. Consequently, some university buildings are now working without electricity.

These include the staff building of the Presidency of the university, the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, the Law, Economics, Management and Sociology Faculty (DEGS), and the Agronomy Institute building. However, the buildings serving as students’ dormitories as well as some other lecture buildings were not affected by the cut. Reacting to the power cut at the university, its Vice President, Jean-Jules Harijaona, stated yesterday that, “it is simply a strategic action aiming to urge the government to react”.  

It is important to mention that the University of Antananarivo has now some 2.5 billion Ariary of unpaid electricity bills. However, as explained by another Vice President of the university, Jean-Eric Rakotoarisoa, “These arrears should be paid by the government and not by the university because the institution decided in 2007-2009 to pay the bills of some its own establishments. Unfortunately, due to lack of funds, the university was no longer able to meet these payments”.