{"id":428816,"date":"2011-05-23T16:29:17","date_gmt":"2011-05-23T16:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/23\/opposition-groups-reject-roadmap-to-end-political-morass\/"},"modified":"2011-05-23T16:29:17","modified_gmt":"2011-05-23T16:29:17","slug":"opposition-groups-reject-roadmap-to-end-political-morass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/23\/opposition-groups-reject-roadmap-to-end-political-morass\/","title":{"rendered":"Opposition Groups Reject Roadmap to End Political Morass"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
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\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Catherine Sasman<\/p>\n

20 May 2011<\/p>\n

\n

The Namibian, on invitation of opposition political parties in Madagascar, visited that country to talk to members of a wide spectrum of players on the contentious SADC roadmap that is slated to be a mechanism to prepare the country for a democratic election after a coup d’etat in 2009, and a transitional government.<\/em><\/p>\n

ANTANANARIVO is a sprawling city that meanders up very steep and narrow cobbled streets with old, peeling and decaying French colonial buildings stacked tightly against each other.<\/p>\n

Towering over the city at the highest point at 1 480 metres above sea level stands one of the last bastions of Madagascar’s pre-colonial history – the Queen’s Palace, also called the Rova or Manjakamiadana.<\/p>\n

It is closed to visitors after a devastating fire rumoured to have been politically motivated arson in 1995.<\/p>\n

A 10-minute walk down from the palace stands the Andafiavaratra palace, or the Prime Minister’s palace where the only remaining artefacts saved from the Rova fire remain holed up while repairs are being made at the Rova.<\/p>\n

Its large dome-like glass roof is leaking, and the rains have left muddy streaks along the high walls.<\/p>\n

“If Ravalomanana returns to power, we will fix this,” commented Senator Roland Ravatomanga, who had served in the toppled government in the March 2009 coup d’etat.<\/p>\n

For now the preservation of the country’s historic sites is not a priority.<\/p>\n

The priority now is to find an exit out of the political morass the country with a population of 20 million is sinking into since the coup d’etat that ousted former President Marc Ravalomanana, who is currently exiled in South Africa.<\/p>\n

He was replaced by former disc jockey and mayor of Antananarivo, Andry Rajoelina, who suspended Parliament amidst international condemnation of the army-backed take-over.<\/p>\n

SADC refused to recognise Rajoelina despite his confirmation as president by a constitutional court.<\/p>\n

He had assumed the position as head of a loose coalition of former opposition politicians known as the High Transitional Authority (HTA), a position he intends to remain in until an election is held for a new government.<\/p>\n

When he took over power, Rajoelina had formed a partial cabinet after suspending a parliament overwhelmingly dominated by MPs from the outgoing ruling party.<\/p>\n

According to a foreign observer, three main issues triggered bloody uprisings that spawned the coup d’etat – which, depending on who one speaks to, was a popular uprising, or not.<\/p>\n

One was that Ravalomanana had bought a presidential plane which was reportedly wrongly perceived to have been as a personal luxury.<\/p>\n

Accusations were also levelled against him for selling agricultural land to a Korean company, raising fears that he was selling off the country to foreigners.<\/p>\n

Another accusation was that he was monopolising certain industries and introduced tax incentives to industries that would favour his business interests.<\/p>\n

Many The Namibian spoke to believed the coup was “engineered” by France to secure its interests in its former colony.<\/p>\n

This allegation was roundly dismissed by French Ambassador to Madagascar, Jean-Marc Chataigner, as “absolute nonsense”.<\/p>\n

But 24 months after the coup, the country is in the grip of a “slow strangulation”, spiralling into an abysmal economic crisis with poverty on the rise over the last two years, and a population trying to cope with eroding civil liberties and increasing lawlessness.<\/p>\n

Conservatively put, at least 700 000 people have lost their jobs, 25 000 of them from the textile industry hit hard when the United States suspended the Africa Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) with Madagascar after the coup.<\/p>\n

It is estimated that hundreds of thousands more were affected as a result.<\/p>\n

Madagascan lawyer Razaiarisolo Bakoly calculated that 2 000 jobs are lost weekly.<\/p>\n

The World Bank reported that investment, both public and private, is virtually at a standstill, that public services are in a dismal state for lack of budgetary resources, that external financing has considerably slowed down.<\/p>\n

By 2010, it was estimated that 76 per cent of the population lived on US$1 a day.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the US State Department report enumerated countless human rights abuses.<\/p>\n

These include reported unlawful killings and security abuses, harsh prison conditions, arbitrary arrests and detentions, censorship, intimidation and arrests of journalists in a largely partisan media environment, illegal trading, trafficking of women and children, and child labour.<\/p>\n

So desperate is the situation and so urgent a need for a lasting political solution, that traditional kingdoms from the 18 Malagasy tribes are – uncharacteristically – trying to reconcile political actors the Malagasy way, in the spirit of what is called fihavanana [meaning togetherness].<\/p>\n

The crisis, said Patric Zakariasy of the Tangalameme kingdom, also impacts on all levels.<\/p>\n

Zakariasy said rural populations, of which more than 70 per cent are subsistence farmers, find it difficult to produce their own food due to increasing criminality.<\/p>\n

He told of reports of people eating dogs and rats to survive. One chilling account was of a woman who had eaten her aborted baby.<\/p>\n

The largest umbrella civil society organisation, CNOSC, which claims to represent 4 500 out of over 6 000 organisations, said an inclusive, consensual and lasting solution must be found, to among all other State excesses, stop illegal trading of fauna unique to Madagascar and other minerals.<\/p>\n

The political solution on the table that will be discussed by the SADC Extraordinary Summit in Windhoek today, is a roadmap proposed by the SADC mediator, former Mozambican President Joaquin Chissano, and his representative, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Leonardo Simao.<\/p>\n

The roadmap was reviewed twice, and the latest version initialed at the beginning of March by parties close to Rajoelina, as well as ‘dissidents’ from the opposition.<\/p>\n

But the roadmap is criticised for its apparent deficiencies by the three main opposition political movements (called mouvances) lad by former presidents, CNOSC, and a host of international institutions.<\/p>\n

“There will be a riot if SADC accepts the roadmap; the Malagasy people cannot stand it anymore,” commented Lalao Randriamampionona of CNOSC.<\/p>\n

“The roadmap is poison,” said Bakoly. “If it is followed, there will be no peace.<\/p>\n

There are four major political camps headed by Rajoelina on the one side of the divide, and those headed by former presidents Ravalomanana, Albert Zafy, and Didier Ratsiraka.<\/p>\n

Bedevilling the mediation process that lead to the roa map, claimed the Zafy and Didier movements, is that Dr Simao, who was largely left by Chissano to deal with the matter, did not consult them, but only those in support of the de facto regime.<\/p>\n

Another thorn in the flesh is that they see France’s hand in the formulation of the roadmap.<\/p>\n

French Ambassador Chataigner said there were indeed exchanges with the SADC mediating team on elements of a solution.<\/p>\n

But, said Chataigner, the mediation team had the lead on the process, and that the team had done a “great job”.<\/p>\n

“It has been as inclusive as possible,” said Chataigner.<\/p>\n

Not so, maintain the three opposition movements. At the heart of their dissatisfaction is that it said the road map promotes and favours Rajoelina to become the next president.<\/p>\n

An international diplomat preferring anonymity, said this would in effect endorse the coup leader which goes against the grain of resolutions by the African Union (AU) and SADC not to recognise leaders who have come into power through unconstitutional means.<\/p>\n

Rajoelina has previously indicated that he would not make himself available for election, but has since made several pronouncements indicating a change of heart.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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\nOpposition Groups Reject Roadmap to End Political Morass<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Catherine Sasman 20 May 2011 The Namibian, on invitation of opposition political parties in Madagascar, visited that country to talk to members of a wide spectrum of players on the contentious SADC roadmap that is slated to be a mechanism to prepare the country for a democratic election after a coup d’etat in 2009, and a transitional government. ANTANANARIVO is a sprawling city that meanders up very steep and narrow cobbled streets with old, peeling and decaying French colonial buildings stacked tightly against each other. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-428816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nOpposition Groups Reject Roadmap to End Political Morass - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/23\/opposition-groups-reject-roadmap-to-end-political-morass\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Opposition Groups Reject Roadmap to End Political Morass - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Catherine Sasman 20 May 2011 The Namibian, on invitation of opposition political parties in Madagascar, visited that country to talk to members of a wide spectrum of players on the contentious SADC roadmap that is slated to be a mechanism to prepare the country for a democratic election after a coup d'etat in 2009, and a transitional government. 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