Background
He was born on June 24, 1924, at Mandabe, near Morondava, into a long line of Bara chiefs.
He was born on June 24, 1924, at Mandabe, near Morondava, into a long line of Bara chiefs.
He went to Mandabe's primary school then to the regional school of Morondava. He attended courses at the Administrative Section of Ecole Le Myre de vilers where he graduated. He then entered the Administration as a Writer-Interpret and changed his way to Judicial Services and became Court Secretary. He earned a Law Certificate and was named Director of Court Secretaries.
He rose to be clerk of the magistrate's court at Morondava in 1948. Although he sympathised with the nationalist aims of the Mouvement Démocratique de la Renovation Malgache, he was not directly involved in the 1947 uprising. He entered the Provincial Assembly in 1952.
As a founder member with Tsiranana of the PSD in 1956, he was elected to the first National Assembly in 1957. He gained office in 1958 as Minister of Social Affairs, Health and Education. In 1959 he became Minister of the Interior and was leading member of the delegation which negotiated independence from France in 1960.
After being promoted First Vice-President in 1970 he was demoted to Second Vice-President in February 1971 and switched from the Interior Ministry to Agriculture. In June 1971 he was detained without trial on charges of plotting with the Americans to overthrow the Government. After a year in prison he was released when General Ramanantsoa came to power. He founded his new party, the USM, in August 1972 and it was recognised by the Socialist International meeting in London in December 1972.
His detention, marking the first stage of Tsiranana’s downfall, was the result of jealous cabinet colleagues wanting him out of the way since they were worried about their own positions if he came to power. Released from detention a few weeks after the May 1972 military take-over, he attracted many young progressives to his new USM party. His left-wing views—tinged with a strong humanism and a genuine feeling for rural people—do not go beyond orthodox social democracy.