Anyone applying to become a minister in Madagascar’s new government will undergo lie detector tests to root out corrupt people, the country’s military leader said Thursday.
President Michael Randrianirina, who took power in a coup on the Indian Ocean island in October, said Madagascar had acquired a polygraph machine and an expert to operate it to screen new government ministers.
“We will know who is corrupt and who can help us,” Randrianirina said. “We are not looking for someone who is 100 percent clean, but someone who is more than 60 percent clean.”
Randrianirina, a colonel in the elite army unit, removed President Andry Rajoelina from power after a week-long uprising last year by many Malagasy youths who were disappointed by the lack of government services and opportunities in a nation of nearly 32 million that faces poverty, despite the abundance of natural resources and living things.
Randrianirina dismissed her entire cabinet and dissolved the government last week. He appointed a new prime minister on Sunday.
“After taking the polygraph test, candidates who have failed will not continue with the interview,” Randrianirina told reporters. “Those who pass the polygraph test will have an interview with me and the prime minister.”
