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Madagascar President Colonel Michael Randrianirina has said the country’s new cabinet appointees will undergo lie detector tests before their appointment is finalised.
Randrianirina had dismissed the former prime minister and other cabinet members 10 days ago. The president said the cabinet appointees will be announced early next week.
According to him, the lie detector tests will enable his administration to identify honest appointees who will constitute members of the new cabinet.
“We have decided to use a polygraph. “It is with this polygraph that the background integrity checks will be carried out,” the 52-year-old leader told local media.
“We will know who is corrupt and who can help us, who is going to betray the youth struggle.”
He added that his administration is not seeking appointees who are “100% clean”.
“We’re not looking for someone who is 100% clean, but over 60%. That way, Madagascar will finally be able to develop,” he added.
The country’s youths had led protests against water and power shortages in September 2025, which snowballed into a protest movement that ended after former president Andry Rajoelina fled the country.
Randrianirina backed the protesting youths and was sworn in as interim president in October. He has made pledges to conduct elections by late 2027.
The interim president’s government includes familiar faces from the island’s political elite, sidelining young protesters’ calls for a clean slate and radical changes.
He added that he and the new prime minister, anti-money-laundering chief Mamitiana Rajaonarison, who took office on March 15, would only interview candidates for the cabinet who had passed the polygraph.
