- Resumption of all ordinary activities from Monday
From Monday October 26, 2020, all the daily activities of the Antananarivo Registration Center (CIM) can be carried out, the head of the said Center, Velonjara Rakotonandrasana, said yesterday. “The state of health emergency is now over; therefore, we must fully resume our activities, arrange and schedule them for this full recovery”, continues Velonjara Rakotonandrasana.
Thus, from this Monday, all daily operations can be carried out at the Antananarivo registration center, such as, among other things, the filing of files for obtaining the gray card, the processing of dealer files, the filing new files allowing the obtaining of driving licenses, as well as the conversion of CETIS driving licenses.
- Air Transport (Covid-19): boarding to Madagascar prohibited for 10 countries
The Civil Aviation of Madagascar (ACM) has just announced new restrictive measures on flights from abroad in the face of the situation in Europe where a second wave of Covid-19 is raging. The list of countries from which boarding of passengers to Madagascar is prohibited was communicated by the ACM to the airlines. Ten countries are affected by this measure (Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom, Russia and Ukraine).
The last three repatriation flights by Air Madagascar from Paris-Antananarivo before November 1 are however still maintained according to the directives of the authorities
- Health caravan: more than 5,000 people treated
The second edition of the health caravan ended on a positive note. The objective of reaching 15,000 people through the information and awareness campaign and providing medical assistance to more than 5,000 people, free of charge, seems to have been largely achieved. The welcome and enthusiasm of the population in the three regions where the caravan has passed, Vakinankaratra, Haute Matsiatra and Vatovavy Fitovinany, are impressive.
In Betafo, where the first stopover took place, 1,495 people benefited from the free health services offered, according to UNFPA, one of the partners of this large-scale health event. In Lalangina, in the Haute Matsiatra region, where the second stopover took place, 3,000 people benefited from these services according to the social and political affairs department of the presidency, one of the initiators of this project with the ministry of public health. It is in Vohipeno where the third and last stop took place.
The services offered within the framework of this campaign concern, among others, medical consultation, eye and hearing care, oral care and tooth extraction, screening for sickle cell disease, screening for diabetes, screening for STI / HIV, cervical cancer screening, family planning, gyneco-obstetric ultrasound, abdominal-pelvic ultrasound and vaccination.
- Salary cut for 591 ghost civil servants
The ax has fallen for the phantom officials. There will be 591 people to see their balance cut from this October. The report of the Council of Ministers of October 21 specifies that they will stop receiving their salary from the end of this month. In addition to this financial penalty, they will also be brought before the disciplinary council. In other words, sanctions up to their termination of employment contract could occur.
The report of this recent Council of Ministers reveals, that 7007 other people are subject to controls at the level of the bodies concerned. Another report from the Council of Ministers dated September 30, before the State proceeded to improve the AUGURE software or (Unique application for the uniform management of the State’s human resources), making it possible to better identify civil servants and to manage their careers, indicated that they were 7,547 at the beginning to find themselves in this situation.
- The export of ordinary timber prohibited
The export of ordinary, legal, unworked timber is prohibited. This decision was taken during the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, October 21. It is however indicated that it is possible to sell and use the stocks of legal timber to better organize the timber sector. Indeed, only the finished products can be exported after they go through strict control.
The report of the Council of Ministers specifies that within the framework of the standardization of the profession and the regularization of logging, only ordinary legal timber stocks can be exploited. The suspension of cutting, in force since January 2019 with precious woods, is still relevant. A network to monitor the movement of timber from one region to another will then be set up.
- Food insecurity: Six famine deaths in Ampanihy
Famine is raging in the southern part of the Big Island. Last Monday, the deputy of Ampanihy Ouest, Marco Tsaradia announced on his Facebook page, six deaths due to Kere, in the fokontany Ampitanake, in the rural municipality of Itampolo. “Several fokontany (villages) in the Ampanihy district are suffering from famine. Locals are forced to consume red cactus, cooked green mangoes, and tamarind berries to survive. Some families are complaining of deaths because of the Kere, including six in the fokontany of Ampitanake”, indicates the deputy Marco Tsarina.
- 4 bills on the agenda
The boundaries of the second ordinary session of the National Assembly have been defined. Pending the adoption of the agenda, the president of the lower house, Christine Razanamahasoa, said during her opening speech that in addition to the 2021 finance bill, eagerly awaited by parliamentarians, four others bills have been tabled by parliamentarians and two motions for resolution will be on the agenda of this new parliamentary session.
Although she has not yet gone into details, one of them will obviously relate to the subdivision of the Vatovavy region into two. A thorny subject to which, notables and customary chiefs of the districts of Kikongo and Mananjary have yet to come to an agreement with the current leaders on a so-called “administrative” and “geographical” division equal, allowing each future region – Vatovavy and Fitovinany – to have three districts each.
- Many senators boycott the opening of the new ordinary session.
The very high rate of absence of senators who attended the opening ceremony of the second ordinary parliamentary session yesterday is proof of this. There were about ten of them, leaving most of the seats empty. The President of the Institution, Rivo Rakotovao, in a way defended them and was particularly sympathetic to this situation. The holding of this ceremony is fixed by the Constitution. Despite everything, senators are not required to attend, he said.
This significant absence of senators reflects the tension that reigns between the upper house at the end of its mandate and the current regime. Since his electoral campaign, the President of the Republic, Andry Rajoelina has sworn to suppress this institution, deeming it to be budget-intensive.
- Antsirabe: 134 young people to be recruited for the “Green Title” project
The “Green Title” project, announced by Andry Rajoelina in Antsirabe on August 28, is taking shape. The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries has just issued a call for expressions of interest for the recruitment of 134 young people working in particular in the field of agriculture and livestock.
The beneficiaries of the project will be granted the land and will benefit from a modern house with a capacity of five people, technical training from Fifamanor which will ensure the work of agric business center and a loan allowing them to carry out the work. Agriculture and breeding. They will have objectives to achieve with a production quota and will have to prove themselves before being definitively acquired the land they have exploited.
- Health workers demand the lifting of their requisition with payment of their allowances
After seven months of incessant work, without leave or break, because of their requisition to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, health workers are now asking for this requisition to be lifted. “We can see that it is now time to put an end to the requisition of health workers, given that the health situation is already under control in Madagascar which has led to the lifting of the state of health emergency since last Saturday. Because of the requisition, we were not able to take advantage of our annual leave when we were tired during the long health crisis, being always in the forefront in the fight to stop this pandemic”, hammered the doctor Abel Ranaivoson, president of the Madagascar doctors’ union.
He stressed that the letter demanding the cessation of the requisition is already being drafted.
In addition, the president of the union of nurses and midwives (SISFM), Jerisoa Ralibera, also demanded, yesterday, the payment of allowance of requisition of health workers. “By law, requisition compensation is a fundamental right of all requisitioned health workers. Normally, its amount should be between 30,000 and 36,000 Ariary per day, but its final assessment is up to the special commission,”according to Jerisoa Ralibera.