The president of Madagascar has sacked the country’s tourism minister because he said December presidential elections were distracting him from doing his job overseeing the important ministry.

“(Minister) Jean Jacques Rabenirina has completely disappeared from government meetings recently, despite a call to order, and so he has been relieved of his functions,” President Marc Ravalomanana told reporters late on Wednesday.

“The situation has become intolerable because several tourism operators have complained that this minister is absent from meetings where his presence is essential.”

Tourism is a pillar of the Madagascan economy. Rabenirina belongs to the centrist AVI party, whose leader pulled out of the 2001 presidential elections to support Ravalomanana but resigned as the president’s “roving ambassador” in August in order to run in polls scheduled for December 3.

“I understand perfectly that Jean Jacques Rabenirina must follow the orders of the party to which he belongs,” he said. Ravalomanana said Environment Minister General Charles Sylvain Rabotoarison would run the Tourism Ministry until the elections.

Tourist arrivals were expected to grow roughly 20 percent for the first nine months of 2005 over the same period the year before, according to the World Bank.