POLITICS
SENEGAL – “A runaway democracy” by Feline Sarr
The elimination of political opponents from the presidential election race is a constant in the West African political scene. The means are unfortunately well known: accusations of misappropriation of public funds or tax evasion, questioning of the nationality of the candidate, exiles, banishments, imprisonments, international arrest warrants, instrumentalization of justice and parliament. The range is vast and the imagination of our leaders in this field is fertile. By Seneplus
In our latitudes, when we come to power, we keep it. The constitution was revised to remain more than expected; failing that, it was not respected, and its interpretation was wronged with the help of venerable jurists or constitutional advice to the orders. We’re subjugating the counterpowers. From democracy, only the institutional forms are retained and the meaning and substance of them are quickly removed. We buy when we can certain media outlets to muzzle free expression, we hinder the right of citizens to protest, which is guaranteed by the constitution, we restrict public space and individual freedoms, we intimidate dissenting voices. Following formal elections, scrutinized by national and especially international observers (when accepted), the satisfaction of the international community is sought on the validity and transparency of the process. Once this white man is in his pocket, he returns to starve the population, maintain its political clientele, enjoy power and its excesses, betray the social contract of shared well-being, equality of opportunity and social justice on whose behalf he was elected. With a few exceptions, we only play the game of electoral competition once we have ensured that we have enough control over the electoral machinery and/or that the most serious opponents have been eliminated from the game. The adage is known, under our skies, when we have power, we do not organize elections to lose them, unless we have ensured a succession that absolves you of the necessary accountability of public action, once again a normal citizen.
In recent years we have experienced a series of democratic dispossessions and it is this cycle that we must stop. It is about not letting ourselves be dispossessed of the ability to shape our collective destiny
We all witnessed the event. A private affair between an opposition political leader and a Senegalese citizen whose theatre was the intimacy of a massage parlour has become a state affair. Ousmane Sonko, leader of Pastef is accused of rape by citizen Adji Sarr. This case could (should) have been decided before the competent courts, in the normal time of the Senegalese justice, respecting the rights of both parties, in a serenity that would have removed us from any suspicion of machination or non-impartiality. Instead, the home of the leader of the Pastef was besieged from the first days of the affair by the security forces. From the outset, this gave the case a political character. We hastened to set in motion against him the judicial system with a speed that we did not know about our justice, twisting in the passage some rules of law. The accused, Ousmane Sonko, saw in about ten days his parliamentary immunity lifted. In spite of the fact that the minutes of the hearings of the gendarmes, which have leaked, induce in any reasonable and impartial person a serious doubt on the qualification of the facts, the public prosecutor, master of prosecutions, decided to set in motion the legal club, because that is what we are talking about, when it comes to opponents of the current regime whose claims to the throne are taken seriously. The Khalifa Sall case is there to edify us. The extreme impartiality of which he was the object left us all a bitter taste, but above all lit in our brains an alert, which began to sound when we saw the same scenario sketched out. A strange and persistent sense of déjà vu has inhabited us. Just recall that the accused Ousmane Sonko obtained for a first participation in the presidential elections of 2019, more than 15% of the votes of Senegalese, which makes him in the absence of a Senegalese left and a real political alternative, a serious candidate for the next election. It is a question of analysing what the event reveals to us and the truth it carries about the nature of our national political life. The turn this affair is taking is the expression of a deep crisis of our democracy, which, moreover, boasts of being exemplary in comparing itself always less accomplished than it on the continent.
Since Wade, the weakening and corrosion of the gains of Senegalese democracy is a gentle slope that we have taken. Had it not been for the start of 23 June 2011 and 25 March 2012; in particular the opposition of the Senegalese to his attempt to install a presidential ticket requiring only 25% of the vote to be elected, and that of running for a third unconstitutional mandate, we wouldn’t be where we are today. A monarchical devolution of power awaited us. The M23, Y en A Marre, Duty of resistance, the opposition, civil society, trade unions, Senegalese citizens, have preserved us.
The ideals for which we fought in 2012: strengthening our democracy through adequate institutional reforms, balance of power, social justice, accountability, equality of citizens before the law, The elimination of corruption has been continuously eroded since then. We have seen emblematic figures of the Wade regime against which we rose in 2012, moving towards the presidential majority, some denying urbi and orbi their previous commitments; individuals suspected of embezzlement of public funds, some pinned by the reports of the state control corps, finding thanks to the Prince’s side. The moral decay of political life has led most of the citizens of this country to regard politics as the place par excellence for the expression of cynicism and the confrontation of opportunities, whereas it must be that space where the community shapes its destiny and works to realize its highest aspirations. This is also due in part to the fact that we deserted this place, judging its breathless air. What have we witnessed in recent weeks? Activists exercising their right to protest arrested and thrown into prison, a hunt for Pastef supporters, citizens demonstrating their support for their leader, taken on board by the police, journalists hampered in the exercise of their profession. Moreover, in recent years the color was announced; several opponents have experienced the prison, the recurring embalming of activists exercising their freedom of criticism (Guy Marius Sagna has become its emblem. He is currently held in solitary confinement in Cape Manuel in unworthy conditions); a Senegalese woman, Oulèye Mané, having circulated in her WhatsApp a cartoon of the Head of State, Saer Kébé, a 16-year-old high school student who spoke out against Charlie on social media, also ended up in prison. Yet Senegal is the country of a hard-won freedom of expression. We felt that liy raam ci nag ba la jëm.
Of the multitude of facts that could be told infinitely, it is however necessary to move to the paradigm. We have had a series of democratic dispossessions in recent years, and that is the cycle we must stop.Democracy, more than a form of state, is a real figure in political life. It commits us to defending what holds society together. And one of those pillars is justice. In our context, the issue is as much the exercise of power, the standards to which that power is subject, as the purposes it gives itself. A power separated from the idea of justice, that nothing more balances, that no dam retains, drunk with the monopoly of the exercise of public force, is exposed to all the excesses.And God knows that there are many tasks to be undertaken for the well-being of vulnerable Senegalese populations. Must we remind those who exercise it that it is we who have entrusted it to them for a time, so that they may be attuned to the conditions of our greatest good? The leader of Pastef as he was on his way to the convocation of the court was arrested for disturbances to public order and placed in custody in the premises of the search section of the gendarmerie in Colobane.
The leap to which we owe our salvation is today in the camp of Justice. It is up to it to restore the rule of law and to judge the facts by an impartial investigation. He must settle the dispute between Ousmane Sonko and Adji Sarr through a fair trial, outside of any political agenda. Our salvation is also in the vigilance and commitment of citizens, to defend the idea we make of what the community must become. It is for us not to allow ourselves to be dispossessed of the ability to shape our collective destiny. Beyond the present battle for real democracy and impartial justice, we must seriously work to build a real social and political alternative and thus rebuild the Senegalese nation.
POLITICS
SENEGAL Moussa Tine: “We launch a solemn appeal to the diaspora for the International Exhibition of Investment of the African Diaspora – SIDIA
Exclusive interview with Moussa Tine, the Director General of Urbanism and Habit. From September 26 to 28, 2025, at the Domaine de Choully, Africa – and particularly Senegal goes to meet its diaspora. For three days, the event will bring together several hundred entrepreneurs, including 30 from Senegal, investors, policy makers and artists. It is an unprecedented exhibition that brings together strategic sectors such as housing, agriculture, but also industry and commerce.
Why involve the diaspora and why organize this International Diaspora Investment Fair? Why this fair?
This exhibition today is a moment of exchange, an indispensable meeting point for government policy and particularly the policy of these three sectors, namely housing, construction, agriculture, industry and commerce. It is these three ministries that bring together their strategies, their strengths, to go out to meet the diaspora. The diaspora plays a decisive, extremely important role in the country’s economy and in its socio-economic stability. It is an important moment, a decisive moment, a moment that will also help us to financially complete a number of projects that are underway, but also to give the opportunity to the nationals of the diaspora to contribute to the development of their country. Each ministry today develops projects and this fair is an opportunity to give the diaspora the necessary information, either to integrate these projects or to collaborate with the State in the context of public-private partnerships or direct investments under the auspices of the State. Here is, in a global manner, the object of the exhibition. Today, this the exhibition is a decisive moment, an important one, with challenges defined across the three sectors I have just mentioned.
Thus, what is the economic weight of the diaspora?
The weight of the diaspora is well established. Today, it plays a decisive role in our economy. The diaspora is strong and economically involved, not only in a family way, but also through local and international initiatives. Therefore, involving the diaspora means redefining its role in a strategic way, which must no longer be limited to family support but contribute directly to the development of the country. This can be done through financial investment projects through programmes structured by the Ministry of Urban Planning, Local Authorities and Spatial Planning. I take the example of the PNALRU (National Program for Access to Housing), a project designed and led by the Ministry of Urbanism. We know that most of our fellow citizens in the diaspora have a house or housing project because they want to invest in their home. But often, they do not have the necessary information to do it in a secure way, nor quality support. Projects like the PNALRU offer a secure framework at the level of land, construction, but also marketing, in a transparent manner. These are projects that the State has implemented and which allow the diaspora to have easier access to land, and to participate directly in the national economy. The diaspora complains about not having enough information on state initiatives. This exhibition is a way to reach out to her, to provide as much information as possible about ongoing projects and integration modalities. We know that a part of the diaspora already has the initiative to return or to work in collaboration with the State. This show will therefore be a B2B meeting, a space where the diaspora and the State will be able to meet, establish collaborative relationships, and create what I often call a “return ticket”, that is to say an opportunity for many Senegalese to prepare for a secure and planned return.
Mr. Director, what is the direct message you send to the diaspora, especially to that of Geneva, because the exhibition will take place there?
Yes, the exhibition will be held in Geneva. This choice does not come by chance. Geneva is a financial capital and a business hub. Organizing it there highlights a decisive point in the outcome of projects: the financial dimension and the technical dimension. The objective is that from this exhibition, not only do we provide the necessary information to the diaspora, but also that we mobilize its capital to encourage it to invest in real estate, agriculture and industry. Each ministry will present development projects that the diaspora can appropriate, whether in housing, agriculture or industry. These sectors are linked: industry supports habitat, habitat needs building materials, and agriculture requires infrastructure. This sectoral transversality will allow for maximum opportunities to be created for the diaspora. In Geneva, for three days, we will have exchanges, panels, permanent exhibitions (more than 30 planned), and B2B meetings between the state, professionals, the diaspora, and the private sector. The aim is to mobilize investors, experts and promoters to implement joint projects.
Who are the partners of this project?
In Senegal, we have the Ministry of Urbanism, Territorial Collectivities and Spatial Planning, which leads, with the Ministries of Industry and Trade, and Agriculture as co-organizers. We also work in partnership with Me Events, a structure specialized in the organization of events, and with partners in Geneva, such as the African Village Association and Afrique Néon.
Mr. Director, to conclude, what message do you want to send to the Senegalese in the diaspora?
I take this opportunity to make a solemn appeal to all our fellow citizens of the diaspora. This exhibition is made for you. Its objective is clear: to mobilize the diaspora, not only for its expertise, but also for its investments. Invest in yourself. Invest in Senegal. Invest in Africa. This fair is yours, make it your own, and make it a channel for communication and development. The success of this exhibition will be the success of the national policy towards the diaspora. Senegal comes to you, your country comes to you, in order to discuss your projects and those we develop here. Come in large numbers, because together we can ensure inclusive development where every contribution counts. Thank you and I hope to see you very soon at the Geneva exhibition, from September 26 to 28.
Initially scheduled for Wednesday, June 11, 2025, the major march of the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire – African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RDA), the main opposition party in Côte d’Ivoire, will finally take place on Saturday, June 14, 2025. This postponement was announced by the party’s Executive Secretary, who points out that the decision came after discussions between the PDCI leadership and the authorities of the Abidjan department. The details of these discussions have not been made public.
This demonstration, highly anticipated by the party’s activists and supporters, aims to support the candidacy of its president, Tidjane Thiam, in the presidential election of 2025, and to protest against his removal from the electoral list. A decision that the party qualifies as unfair and unacceptable, arguing for the right of all Ivorian citizens, including those with dual nationality, to participate in the political life of the country.
The route of the march remains unchanged: the protesters will leave from the SOCOCE space of the 2 Plateaux, in the municipality of Cocody, to head towards the headquarters of the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI). The party calls for a strong peaceful mobilization in order to convey a clear message: demand inclusive, transparent and peaceful elections.
The removal of Tidjane Thiam and other opposition figures is mainly based on the issue of dual nationality, a legal provision that continues to be debated as the election approaches. The PDCI, which sees in Thiam a rally candidate capable of unifying the Ivorians, intends to make this march a highlight of its campaign and its democratic fight.
Photo credit: Tidiane Thiam page
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Morissanda Kouyaté, received this Sunday, June 1, 2025 in Conakry a delegation from the African Union, on an official visit to Guinea. On this occasion, he reaffirmed the commitment of the transitional authorities to respect the deadlines set for the return to constitutional order, while stressing the historical and central role of Guinea in the construction of the Pan-African project.
« I am very happy. The African Union is at Guinea’s side to accompany and support the vision of the head of state, President Mamadi Doumbouya, in favor of Guinea and Africa, in the political, diplomatic, economic, and cultural fields, declared the head of Guinean diplomacy.
This meeting takes place in a context marked by the preparations for the constitutional referendum scheduled for next September 21.
Morissanda Kouyaté also recalled the founding involvement of Guinea in the creation of the Organization of African Unity, which became the African Union. “This visit materializes the commitment of the Peace and Security Council to accompany Guinea in a dynamic of ambitious political and diplomatic transformation,” he stressed.
The minister indicated that all actions related to the transition are currently funded by the national development budget, while calling for a broader mobilization of the international community. “We have requested a round table, called the Basketfront, to seek support to speed up the process. But this does not mean that we will give up,” he said, reiterating President Doumbouya’s willingness to scrupulously respect the scheduled deadlines.
He finally wanted to reassure on the efforts made to ensure an inclusive electoral process. “We are going through a difficult period, and that is why we want all Guineans to be registered in order to obtain a reliable electoral roll,” concluded Morissanda Kouyaté.
Source: guinee360 / Photo credit: Page Ministry of Foreign Affairs Guinea
