The President of the Republic, Andry Rajoelina, carried out a ministerial reshuffle, Monday, February 20 at the start of the evening. A recomposition of the government without major upheaval. The irremovable Christian Ntsay, Prime Minister since the 2018 unity government, remains in office. Eight ministers are joining the government team in an electoral context, with a presidential election scheduled for the end of the year. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs finally finds a holder.
With our correspondent in Antananarivo, Laetitia Bezain
For four months and the dismissal of the former head of diplomacy, the post of Malagasy Minister of Foreign Affairs was held by the Minister of Defence, ad interim. A situation that ended on Monday, February 20, with the announcement of a new government: Yvette Sylla, ambassador to Unesco, was called back to Madagascar to assume this strategic position.
Historian and politician, this personality close to the Head of State has already held this position, while the latter was President of the Transition. She will be responsible, in particular, for taking up the thorny issue of the restitution of the Scattered Islands, administered by France and claimed by Madagascar. A promise from Andry Rajoelina.
Defense sees the arrival at its head of Major General Josoa Rakotoarijaona, former Director General of Strategic Planning within this ministry. The Keeper of the Seals, François Rakotozafy, was replaced by Landy Randriamanantenasoa, one of the six members of the Senate appointed by the President of the Republic.
Unstoppable since the start of Andry Rajoelina’s mandate, the Minister of Labor and wife of the President of the Independent National Electoral Commission for the Transition (Céni), Gisèle Ranampy, was finally dismissed. She is replaced by Jean-Bosco Rivotiana, deputy of the IRD coalition, created to support the head of state.