He didn’t have to be a cowboy launcher to make that prediction. But we had no idea how far our parliamentarians could go. This is a first in the annals of Senegalese politics: men in slings who sling. It was as if they were psychologically preparing us for the fact that this mandate will be put under the sign of shit, as Céline would say. We knew that the struggle was the preferred discipline of the Senegalese, but we were far from imagining that the Senegalese parliamentarians would start this first session with terrible fists. Not even the regulatory round of observation. It’s clear: they are at the ready. And to say that they were expected on the debates of ideas? It’s not won.
This Monday, September 12, 2022, at the opening, in Dakar, Senegal, of the inaugural session of the 14th Parliament, we were given a very eventful spectacle: torrents of insults, machine guns with bottles of water, cries, muscular fists, ballot box grabbing, destruction of the microphone. For people who are supposed to be role models and who engage in such a comic spectacle, it is disappointing. Neither the solemnity of the place nor the political commitment of the deputies has succeeded in softening the internal differences of the political leaders.
For this return, a question was on the agenda: who to succeed the former president of the Senegalese National Assembly? At the beginning of the meeting, there was a sense that members were more concerned about their uniforms and washrooms. They were like students, who, at the beginning of the school year, come to show their classmate the latest fashionable bag. The political stands were filled with men and women. Some wore their tricolour slings in chains. Others wore belts. Very quickly, we move from African haute couture to catfight, from the fashion show to a surreal show, from soft to serious, when it comes time to elect a president. Who will succeed Moustapha Niasse?
In the big room, different people burst. The opposition, composed of «Yewwi Askam Wi» and «Wallu Senegal, is completely opposed to the votes of the ministers-deputies. It claims an incompatibility, a conflict of interest between being in the pay of power and wanting to defend the interests of the Senegalese people. MP Guy-Marius Sagna is adamant: “This is an absolute incompatibility. They should not sit. We urge the assembly to respect the rules of procedure.” The opposition’s arguments are being kicked by the side of the presidential majority, Benno Bokk Yakaar. Another point of divergence, and this in both camps, impossible to agree on the choice of the candidate in either camp. This lack of consensus will make things worse. In the presidential coalition, Yewwi Askan Wi, big surprise. While all eyes were on the deputy Aminata Touré be chosen to humanity, big surprise: to her, we prefer: a man; Amadou Mame Diop. In the opposition camp, it is more complex: Three men want Barthélemy Dias, mayor of Dakar, Ahmed Aidara, mayor of Guédiawaye and the candidate of Wallu Senegal, Mamadou Lamine Thiam.
The vote will be recorded without the participation of the opposition. Against all odds, and under the high protection of the gendarmerie, the election of the new president of the National Assembly is held. This presence of the gendarmerie, unprecedented in the hemicycle that fiercely denounces the members of the opposition. As might be expected, Amadou Mame Diop, Mayor of Richard Toll and current Director General of the SAPCO, won 84 votes to 83.
Big anger on both sides – opposition and presidential: some feel cheated. This is the case of Aminata Touré, aka Mimi who was the candidate of the presidential coalition camp. She calls this election “unfair”.
