Search in Faravohitra: no mobile radio transmitter in Ravalomanana’s residence

Not a bolt from the pre drafted list of equipment and no radio transmitter have been found at Marc Ravalomanana’s home in Faravohitra, Antananarivo. The search required by the Communication ministry has fallen through. And yet, the Analamanga region’s state police commander, the inescapable colonel Richard Ravalomanana had deployed significant staff for the occasion. The score number of tenths of officers armed withkalachnikov machine guns was definitely a demonstration.  

By 08:00 a.m., police forces surrounded Faravohitra so densely that residents believed that the operation was meant to be an assault. Colonel Richard Ravalomanana seemed surprised to meet Mrs Hanitra Razafimanantsoa, President Marc Ravalomanana’s attorney appearing on the scene. This female attorney’s presence thwarted the poorly prepared plan, legally speaking. A new search mandate had to be fetched. According to Mrs Razafimanantsoa, the basic mandate got “blanks”, and no designation of the place to be searched.  

“We did not want to break in; the whole operation had to be completed in full respect of the law”, justified minister Nathalie Rabe, in reference to the correction of the mandate, and to the owner’s lawyer’s necessary presence on the scene. Three hours after taking position in Faravohitra, colonel Ravalomanana’s forces were finally allowed to enter the ” Residence Ravalomanana”, a new name hastily invented by the judge.  

The three hours long search failed to produce anything. “Technicians from the OMERT insisted on the presence of transmitters inside the residence. In order to remove doubts, we allowed them to enter even though the search mandate did not yet grant them this right”, argued Me Hanitra Razaafimanantsoa. “They did search, and they failed to find anything”. 

Mrs Hanitra Razafimanantsoa did not hide her satisfaction after this small victory. The imposed regime lost its bet this time around again. The minister in charge of Communication tried to preserve dignity. “You must know…”, as addressing reporters, “…that this residence is a palace, there are non official secret doors (herself dixit) and underground ways “. She refused to pull back in spite of the public crash, and confirmed that 89.2 or 89.6 FM was still on air on the morning of the search. Nathalie Rabe has been keeping a blind faith in technicians from the OMERT who confirmed that the incriminated “pirate radio station” was broadcasting from the” Residence Ravalomanana” even on the day of the search.   

Is the presence of a communication antenna on the roof of what is being labelled “private presidential palace” really that so extraordinary? Nathalie Rabe is reduced to rely on demonstration by the absurd. She suggested that someone had to extract the transmitter while the search mandate was being corrected. “It is easy to transport…”, she argued, “…since it is a mobile transmitter”. And the place chosen to broacast would obviously be the exiled president’s from miles around visible house! Only one thing is to be held for granted: As pledging this failure, minister Nathalie Rabe has definitely and openly disparaged the OMERT technicians’ expertise as well as the police forces who would have let suspects and hardware off.