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President Rajoelina’s shock move comes just weeks after officials claimed they had foiled a plot to assassinate the former coup leader.
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Rajoelina’s office, quoted Reuters, Thursday (12/8/2021), did not provide a reason for the dismissal of all his ministers.
On Sunday, Rajoelina said the performance of some ministers was unsatisfactory.
“Like in a football team, you have to change when there is a failure in government,” he said in comments broadcast on national television.
“There will be changes and this affects those who do not perform the jobs entrusted to them,” he added.
Last week, a senior prosecutor said Madagascar had arrested 21 more suspects, including 12 military personnel, in connection with a plot to kill Rajoelina and overthrow the government.
Six people, one of them a French national, were arrested last month on suspicion of involvement in the plot, after what officials say is a months-long investigation on the Indian Ocean island.
Madagascar, an impoverished former French colony of 26 million, has a history of violence and political instability. Rajoelina, 44, was sworn in as president in 2019 after a hotly disputed election and a lawsuit in the Constitutional Court from his rival.
Rajoelina first took power in a March 2009 coup, ousting Marc Ravalomanana. He remained in control as head of the transitional government until 2014.
In the 2019 election, Ravalomanana challenged Rajoelina, lost, and said the election vote was fraudulent.
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