Andry Rajoelina: The Madagascan Leader Fighting To Save Lives

Andry Nirina Rajoelina is a Malagasy politician and businessman who is currently serving as the president of Madagascar.

Andry Rajoelina was born on 30 May 1974 to a relatively wealthy family in Antsirabe. Although his family could afford a college education for their son, Andry Rajoelina opted to discontinue his studies after completing his baccalauréat to launch a career as an entrepreneur.

In 1994, Rajoelina met his future spouse Mialy Razakandisa, who was then completing her senior year at a high school in Antananarivo. The couple got married in 2001, and they have three children.

He started his career in the private sector as an events organiser. In 1993, at the age of 19, Rajoelina established his first enterprise: a small event production company called Show Business. In the following year, he organized an annual concert called Live that brought together foreign and Malagasy musical artists. Then he started investing in the media and advertising business.

In 1999, he launched Injet, the first digital printing technology company available on the island, which gained quick traction with its expansion of billboard advertising throughout the capital. Then in May 2007, Andry Rajoelina purchased the Ravinala television and radio stations and renamed them Viva TV and Viva FM.

The President of Madagascar, Rajoelina is one of the leaders who have been proactive about finding a cure for COVID-19. He has overseen the development of a home-grown herbal remedy, Covid-Organics made from the artemisia plant, which he promotes as the ultimate cure for COVID-19. Rajoelina has been pushing for the recognition of his remedy as the WHO doubts its efficacy.

“All trials and tests have been conducted,” President Rajoelina said in April, “and its effectiveness in reducing the elimination of symptoms have been proven for the treatment of patients with COVID-19 in Madagascar.” On April 22, Madagascar’s confirmed COVID-19 cases stood at 121 cases of which 44 had recovered with no deaths. Some African countries like Tanzania, Nigeria, Liberia and Guinea-Bissau received shipments of the herbal remedy, though whether they were distributed is yet to be seen.

As of June 20, 2020, the number of confirmed cases in Madagascar reached 7,153 including 62 deaths. Whether this is a result of negligence by the people of Madagascar, or simply a case of overzealous hope, we can still applaud his effort in fighting to create a cure for a disease no one has been able to fix.