Hello world!
My name is Ketakandriana.
Quite complicated right?
But, I make it easy for you.
Just call me "K."
My name means little princess in Malagasy language.
But obviously, I'm not little anymore, and unfortunately, I'm not a princess.
Sorry to disappoint you.
I know you guys know Madagascar for that silly cartoon, isn't it?
And, I really wish that our reality was such a fun.
That is not the case, because, unfortunately,
75 percent of our population live in extreme poverty, on less than two dollars a day.
And, I can relate coming from a quite poor family.
We didn't have much and at school I noticed how
colleagues, classmates, who had more than us were treated differently.
But I'm very proud of that story, because it's mine, and it's shaped who I am today.
You see, I grew up in a family, where our parents, especially my mom, ingrained in us that we always
must work hard, to learn everything, and forge our own path with honesty and integrity.
My mom had a deep sense of justice and fairness.
You know she was the kind of woman to shout out in a crowded bus when she noticed something wrong.
And we were like a bit ashamed, but yes, she knocked it.
And, when my father died, when I was 11, and it's been 30 years now,
30 years yesterday, my mom worked very hard to raise me and my brother.
And she faced a lot of hardship,
but at the same time she was the personification of joy and happiness.
I owe her a lot.
And, I will always remember forever what she used to tell us.
"Always do what is good" and "always stand for justice."
So, I guess that's why starting from high school, I decided that I will contribute
at my small scale to my community's and country's well-being and development.
After more than 15 years of volunteer engagement within civil society,
trying to politically empower young people and women, trying also to campaign and advocate
for the rights of people with disabilities, and teaching the art of non-violent civil resistance,
I realized one day that all of the efforts that we invest in development,
democratization, or human rights promotion will be sooner or later ruined by corruption.
Therefore, curbing corruption became my main target.
You see, corruption is at the origins of this extreme poverty that I mentioned beforehand.
Because our successive rulers in Madagascar chose corruption as a way of governing this country.
And now, corruption has become normalized in the Malagasy way of life.
Each and every sector of the nation is contaminated by corruption.
Look you need a passport, expect to be extorted.
Are you a female student, you're dreaming of becoming a neurosurgeon,
expect to be sex-exstorted.
Want to launch your own business, well, insert a bribery line in your budget.
Are you sick and you need emergency care,
a small bribe can skip the line for you and potentially save your life.
Wildlife trafficking, all those turtles being smuggled to China, they are fueled by corruption.
And it even affects our elections in 2013.
One of the candidates to our presidential elections spent
more than Barack Obama for his campaign.
Can you imagine that? Spending 43 million
dollars in a single campaign in a country, where people are starving.
That's insane! Yeah?
In 2018, 36 candidates were running for president.
36!
And money was flowing around the country for rigging the
elections and bribing electoral court officials.
And one of the candidates at the time complained that he was short
of a hundred million dollars to win the elections.
Well, I bet that you guys have heard about the Russian influence on the U.S. elections.
We also have this in Madagascar.
Because our elections have also been influenced by the Russians.
Our investigations in 2018 showed that the Russian had a deal with our former Malagasi president,
so two mining companies wanted to finance his re-election campaign.
And later on, the Madagascar journalist, Gaëlle Borgia, she won a Pulitzer Prize for
uncovering how Russian dark money along with political operatives from Vladimir
Putin's mercenary chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, tried to steal the elections in Madagascar.
But you will tell me, where does all of this money come from?
That's what I just mentioned.
From Kleptocratic sponsors.
But also from the trafficking of natural resources.
Then, this year in November we will have presidential elections again in Madagascar.
And, we know that the Russians and all the dark sponsors are already there.
But this time, we won't let our elections be stolen again.
We won't let big money rule no more.
We won't let political corruption steal away our dignity again.
No!
You know, corruption is not unique to Madagascar.
We are all struggling with it, isn't it?
But in a poor country like mine, I feel that the burden is much more heavier than elsewhere,
because corruption takes away from our plate the already scarce resources that we have.
Corruption kills.
Corruption leaves people powerless.
And corruption really destroys lives.
And, most of the time, it happens in total impunity,
because our Judiciary is not independent.
It is influenced by those who are in power.
In Madagascar, if you report some abuses to the authorities.
Then you will be the one to be jailed.
It's not the perpetrators of corruption for a jail sentence.
It's also blow the whistle against it.
Last year, for instance an environmental defender was murdered in my country.
Eight people have been sentenced for his death,
but we do suspect that the real persons, who masterminded that crime,
are still free and benefit from high-level political protection, eased by corruption.
That's also happened to me and my boss,
the chair of Transparency International in Madagascar, last year.
You see, we grow these small red exotic fruit named Lychee in Madagascar.
And exports of Lychee to the European Union,
could potentially feed thousands of small-scale farmers in Madagascar.
Unfortunately, the profit from the trade serve a few militia.
A monopoly run by politically-connected people.
It's all wasted.
And when we blew the whistle against that big business, then we've been summoned by the police.
And we are still facing potential jail sentence.
But tell me.
Are anti-corruption fighters, troublemakers?
Well, if reporting corruption is trouble-making, and if claiming for justice for victims of
corruption is trouble-making, well yeah, we are troublemakers and we are proud of it.
We've been pushing in Madagascar for the adoption
for a whistleblowers protection act for more than five years now.
And the government says it's not a priority.
How many deaths do we want?
Look I'm a big fan of people power and I'm still dreaming of a global revolution
against corruption, so as we are here today in this room, I would like to ask you a favor.
I would like you to commit to the fight against corruption,
not only in or for Madagascar, but in your respective country,
in your hometown, in your school, in your village, in your churches, everywhere.
Stand against corruption.
If you are a lawyer, defend anti-corruption activists for free.
If you're a donor organization, then stop funding corrupt governments.
If you're a journalist, keep putting corruption under the spotlight.
Name and shame, when needed.
If you're a teacher, teach your students a sense of integrity.
It matters!
Let's raise together a non-violent, anti-corruption army.
I know that all of this requires courage and determination, but also strategy,
collaboration, and I know that all of us can make the difference.
Don't sell your soul for a bunch of money, for a trip, for a house, a position.
Please say "no" to any form of corruption.
So now to conclude, I would love to see you stand up with me.
Stand up, please. Stand up and repeat after me.
Stop corruption now. Stop corruption now.
Once again, stop corruption now.
Thank you guys.
[Applause]