Rédaction Africa Links 24 with pierre Dieme
Published on 2024-03-01 10:42:35
There is nothing more dangerous than a president without faith or law who has become an outcast in the international community. However, he should not escape the prospect of being held accountable. (Title in reference – nod – to Alain Badiou’s book “What is Sarkozy’s Name? The man and his program”) President Macky Sall can only surprise us if we expect from him the postures of a President of the Republic. Therefore, we cannot judge him based on “glorious” ambitions that he does not display. He is neither Senghor, nor Diouf, nor Wade. So, we cannot ask President Macky Sall for things he cannot deliver, such as: – inscribing his name on a page of Senegal’s history? – leaving through the front door while riding on the recognition of Senegalese people? – drawing inspiration from constitutional ethics and strengthening them for his successors? Waste of time. That is not a language he understands. Even if he grumbles at words in that direction, it simply is not part of his mental and moral software. It is neither his style nor his political ethics. He is not Senghor, Diouf, or even Wade. Senghor was nevertheless steeped in socialist humanism. Diouf, as a seasoned administrator, was imbued with a culture of the State. Wade, an international lawyer and consultant for major organizations, has always been a standard-bearer for democracy. Macky Sall, on the other hand, has remained a party leader with a narrow horizon who has never been able to step into the shoes of a President of the Republic. He knows he does not measure up to his predecessors, whom he is constantly compared to, and he holds a grudge against them like the “class dunce” towards the top students. I have always considered him an usurper. We must speak to him in a language he understands: power, positioning, traps, coups, police, perjury, prisons, money. Let’s start with the flagship programmatic achievement to which he fraudulently attributed paternity. I am referring to the “Emerging Senegal Plan” (PSE) acquired from the shelves of the World Bank, along with Togo Emerging, Ivory Coast Emerging, or Gabon Emerging. Sole author of the plan? McKinsey, a consultant for the World Bank. A plan from the World Bank, none of which has ever succeeded in Africa, yet they persist. It consists of non-productive infrastructures entrusted to foreign companies, unrestrained debt, a token social safety net, and unlimited personal enrichment through kickbacks. Education, health, social well-being, and industrialization are of course the blind spots of any neoliberal agenda in Africa. This is the case for the Senegalese PSE. Macky Sall has no vision (long-term) or convictions. A plan can be borrowed or bought, but a vision is a personal production that must precede and imbue the plan and reflect a set of values that build coherence in political action. Macky is in improvisation at all levels on a day-to-day basis. He makes moves, deals with the consequences, and plots the next moves. Like our valiant “gorgorlou” who strive to meet daily expenses while flirting with illegality. As for the international finance sector: for foreign investors, including Qatar, or for Francafrique, he is the prototype of the perfect African president. Along with his older twin, Ivorian Ouattara. They have been praised for their eminent efforts through “Doing Business,” whose goal is to make countries more attractive to foreign capital. They are endorsed by Francafrique for political stability (read immobilism and everything but Sonko and Gbagbo) and of course, lucrative contracts. Apart from their “fervent” defense of the CFA franc. However, for these international financiers, no one is indispensable. Macky Sall or Karim Wade, it does not matter! And they are not very interested in problems related to democracy and the well-being of populations as long as business is thriving. Furthermore, do not speak to Macky Sall about values. For him, it is just a language element to be used according to circumstances. – This is why he has no qualms about lying and going back on his promises. The truth depends on circumstances and the audience. That is why he has become the most followed personality on VAR. – He has no hesitation in imprisoning political opponents to ensure electoral victory. He is now known for this throughout Africa and is starting to garner followers. What a shame for Senegal! – He has no qualms about sending our soldiers to their death in a sister country to “restore constitutional order” (Niger)… on France’s orders. This is why a dialogue with him is always a game of deception. When you think you have made a deal, he always has a move ahead because the deal is part of a deceit that you do not control. He is not intelligent and sincere. He is cunning and “wicked” (so they say). The lack of principles makes coherence in his approach impossible. It is coherence that builds personality and reputation. But to preach peace in Russia and remain silent on the Palestinian issue when Senegal has been chairing the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People since 1975. That is not coherent. He imposed an embargo on our Sahelian neighbors due to a coup d’état and perpetuated a constitutional coup in Senegal. Where is the coherence? It seems he governs us according to his “code of honor” when we elected him to govern us according to the Constitution. “Code of honor”? Shouldn’t he make it public first? Just to verify that his code and ours are compatible? Did he not say that his “code of honor” and not the Constitution led him to “renounce his third term”? A “code of honor” that was not tainted by the false statement on the honor of his new accomplice Karim Wade? Ah, honor among accomplices! Moreover, did he back down from declaring his wealth at the same time? As a human being, and this is the most revolting for me personally, it is his lack of compassion and empathy. – Nearly 60 young people killed during the riots of 2021 and 2023. Not a word of condolences to the mourning Senegalese families from the President of the Republic of Senegal. No words of comfort. – Thousands of young Senegalese dying in their desperate attempts to flee the country. Not once was a national mourning declared or a minute of silence observed during a public event. Erased from his memory. And yet, they did not deserve to die. They were exercising their inalienable right to mobility. It is the closure that kills. Why did he not take the time to think, search, innovate, negotiate, and find solutions? Do these lives lost at the bottom of the oceans matter? It is the NGOs that inform us. The State, its state, is unaware, unable to provide information to families, or issue death certificates to waiting widows. – Has Macky Sall really taken care of the fate of his compatriots during his tenure? Poverty has increased, life is expensive, there are no jobs, he sabotages education. Health is in crisis, suffering persists. He does not care. – And all those innocent youngsters released from the sordid prisons of the country that caused so much suffering in Senegalese families. Not a word of apology, even though they were innocent. Innocents! Deprived of their fundamental right to come and go on a whim. But it must be acknowledged that there have been moments when he had compassionate impulses. Of course, there was the French mourning for Charlie where he solemnly marched, but I challenge him to name a single one of the journalists killed. It was a mere political marketing operation in Francafrique. It is this lack of compassion that no artifice can disguise. This lack of empathy that alienates the people from him. In conclusion, will he organize the elections as instructed by the Constitutional Council? Will he leave on April 2 as demanded by the Constitution? Will he resign to force a complete restart?
Read the original article(French) on Dakar Matin
