Madagascar president orders lie-detector tests for minister candidates
Madagascar’s president Michael Randrianirina said Thursday that anyone applying to become a minister in the new government will be subjected to lie-detector tests as part of vetting aimed at rooting out corruption.
Randrianirina, who took power in a coup in October, said Madagascar has acquired a polygraph machine and a specialist to operate it to assess minister candidates. He said the process will help determine which candidates he believes are suitable for government roles.
“We will know who is corrupt and who can help us,” Randrianirina said in remarks reported by the Associated Press. He added, “We are not looking for someone who is 100% clean, but someone who is more than 60% clean.”
Randrianirina said the polygraph tests will be used before a formal interview stage. “After taking the polygraph test, candidates who fail will not proceed to an interview,” he told reporters. He said those who pass the polygraph test will have an interview with him and the prime minister.
The comments come after Randrianirina fired his entire Cabinet and dissolved the government last week, the Associated Press reported. He appointed a new prime minister on Sunday. Randrianirina ousted President Andry Rajoelina after a weekslong uprising last year that followed frustration among mainly young Madagascans with a lack of government services and opportunities in the island nation of about 32 million people.
Randrianirina has also said he will hold new elections within two years of him taking power, setting a timetable for the political transition amid efforts to remake the government and vet officials.