Madagascar’s interim military president, Michael Randrianirina, has ordered that new ministers must pass polygraph tests as part of background integrity checks, saying the measure will help root out corrupt candidates after he dismissed the prime minister and cabinet without explanation earlier this month.
Randrianirina, who came to power in a coup in October after weeks of youth-led protests under the banner “Gen Z Madagascar”, said the polygraph would be used to determine who is corrupt and who can be trusted. “We have decided to use a polygraph. It is with this polygraph that the background integrity checks will be carried out,” he told local media. He added that a new cabinet would be announced soon and that the tests would show “who is going to betray the youth struggle.”
The demonstrations began in September over water and power cuts and grew into wider demands for a complete overhaul of the political system. The UN said at least 22 people were killed in the first days of the protests. On 11 October an elite military unit, Capsat — in which Randrianirina was a colonel — publicly backed the protesters; the following day President Andry Rajoelina reportedly fled to Dubai on a French military plane. Randrianirina was sworn in as interim president and has pledged elections by late 2027, a date Gen Z activists have urged him to confirm while criticising his ministerial picks as tied to the previous regime.
Randrianirina fired the government on 9 March and announced that anti-corruption chief Mamitiana Rajaonarison would be the new prime minister. He said he and Rajaonarison would only interview ministerial candidates who passed the lie detector tests, adding: “We’re not looking for someone who is 100% clean, but over 60%. That way, Madagascar will finally be able to develop.”
Some Gen Z organisers expressed scepticism. One manager of the movement’s social media accounts called polygraphs “not even scientifically proven to work” and described the plan as “a joke and embarrassing,” while saying they still had hope for the new ministers and considered the current regime an improvement over Rajoelina’s.
Madagascar remains one of the world’s poorest countries, with a GDP per capita of about $545 in 2024. The island is rich in resources such as vanilla and precious gems, which campaigners say have long been exploited by officials and corrupt businesspeople. Transparency International ranked Madagascar 148th out of 180 countries in its 2025 corruption perceptions index.
Agence-France Presse and Associated Press contributed to this report.
