Rajoelina’s office gave no reason for the dismissals in a statement issued late on Wednesday, August 11.

On Sunday, Rajoelina said the performance of some ministers was unsatisfactory.

“Like in a football team, you have to change when there are failures in government,” he said in comments broadcast on national television. There will be a change and this concerns those who do not carry out the work entrusted to them.”

This also comes days after a senior prosecutor said Madagascar had arrested 21 more suspects, including 12 military personnel, in connection with a plot to kill Rajoelina and topple the government.

Six people, one of them a French citizen, were arrested last month on suspicion of involvement in the plot, after what officials said was a months-long investigation in the Indian Ocean island.

Rajoelina first took power in a March 2009 coup, unseating Marc Ravalomanana. He remained in control at the head of a transitional government until 2014.

In the 2019 elections, Ravalomanana challenged Rajoelina, lost, and said the vote was fraudulent.

Eleven other deputies and 14 senators had also tested positive for the virus, Rajoelina said.

Madagascar had on July 5 placed its capital Antananarivo under a fresh lockdown following a new surge in Coronavirus infections, two months after the restrictions were eased, the presidency announced Sunday.

The country has recorded 2,573 infections including 35 deaths with the government estimating that the peak will not be reached until the end of August.

In April, Rajoelina launched a local herbal concoction he claimed prevents and cures the novel coronavirus. He has since been promoting the brew for export, saying it is the country’s “green gold” which will “change history”.

The potential benefits of Covid-Organics, a tonic derived from artemisia — a plant with proven efficacy in malaria treatment — and other indigenous herbs, have not been validated by any scientific study.