Cecile Manorohanta explained in an official statement that her faith, her conscience, and the fact that she is a mother meant she could not accept a situation where soldiers are used to attack and kill citizens rather than protect them.
28 citizens of Madagascar were killed by soldiers during anti-government protests on the weekend of February 7-8.
In an ideal world, the people of Madagascar would get rid of the autocratic Marc Ravalomanana and the opportunistic gambler Andry Rajoelina, and elect Cecile Manorohanta as their new president. She might be the first politician in Africa to take so clear and decisive a stand against using the power of government (in this case the killing power of security forces) to crush the opposition.
All over the continent, Ministers, even those with (supposedly) "progressive", "intellectual", and "technocratic" credentials keep quiet when their boss veers off in a destructive direction. None of them wants to lose their cushy job, perks, and benefits.
Closer to home, I wish Nigerian politicians, militicians, plutocrats, godfathers and sundry Big Men and Women took responsibility for outcomes of their decisions and actions (or inactions) rather than constantly insult our intelligence with hollow excuses. Mrs Manorohanta did not give the order to the troops, but they fell under her ministry so she stepped down.
A lot of people criticized ex-President Obasanjo when he scolded the grieving families of the victims of the Ikeja Cantonment munitions explosions, tell the them they should be grateful that he lowered himself to even come and look at them, but Obasanjo was just the visible face of the prevailing socio-political environment. The rest of the system of social, political and economic leadership may be more discreet and genteel about it, but their actions evince negligence and irresponsibility at best, subtle malevolence at worst.
To be honest, we the people do not hold them to account, do we? I mean, no matter how utterly useless a person in any leadership position happens to be, his kinsmen will defend him to the hilt. You see, he is not there to serve effectively, rather he is there to be a representative "mouth" from his part of the country on the table where "national cake" is served. If not the high table, then a side table, but damnit anyone who tries to remove him will taste the wrath of his kinsmen. It is not something peculiar to one part of the country; it is something we all do.
Even if you take out the "kinsman" phenomenon, you run into citizens praising men like Nuhu Ribadu, rather than holding them to account for what could only be described as failure. And please don't make excuses. If it was not possible for him to do what his supporters think he really wanted to do, he should have stepped down, resigned and run for office with all of his fans' support. Don't give me that "work within the system" talk, because that never works, as you his fans are now finding out.
Thank you Mrs Cecile Manorohanta. In a different universe, she would be a leading contender for Chairperson of the African Union Commission. In this universe, that job is held by Jean Ping, a man notable only for being an acolyte of life-President Omar Bongo of Gabon.
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