NEED TO KNOW

Chasing the Moment

SENEGAL

Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko recently said that his convoy was attacked while he was campaigning on behalf of his African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (PASTEF) political party ahead of legislative elections on Nov. 17.

Onlookers pelted the convoy with stones and injured some individuals, reported France 24.

The incident illustrated the incendiary politics in Senegal since the West African country’s president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, called snap elections in a bid to help Sonko and PASTEF dispel the power of Benno Bokk Yaakar, a political coalition that dominates parliament under the leadership of Faye’s predecessor, Senegal’s former President Macky Sall.

“I dissolve the national assembly to ask the sovereign people for the institutional means to bring about the systemic transformation that I have promised to deliver,” Faye said in a speech announcing the election, according to Al Jazeera.

Faye defeated Sall’s ally, former Prime Minister Amadou Ba, in March on an anti-establishment platform that included pledges to crack down on corruption, redistribute the profits from the country’s natural wealth, improve living standards, and respect civil rights, the Associated Press reported.

Appealing to young people who felt as if their elites had forgotten their dreams and aspirations, Faye won less than two weeks after Sall released him from prison, where he had faced trumped-up charges such as spreading false news and defaming constitutional bodies on social media, explained Voice of America.

Faye is moving fast in part because he wants to take advantage of the moment. Senegal, once one of the most politically and economically stable countries in the region, was hit hard by the coronavirus and then supply chain issues that resulted from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, wrote the Organization for World Peace. Now that those issues might be easing, he has to deliver on his promises or else face the same discontent that spelled Sall’s downfall.

At the same time, Sall’s party wants to put the brakes on the reform.

Still, Senegal’s economic growth is slow, the government is spending beyond its means, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) might delay financing considered essential for the country to avoid austerity measures that would likely lead to negative growth, explained Reuters. The IMF has granted Senegal a $1.9 billion loan to stabilize the government’s finances.

These questions are especially important because Senegal is one of the few countries in Western Africa where voters regularly hold their leaders accountable – something Sall tried to prevent. At a time when coups install juntas and elderly leaders rig systems to remain in power, Senegal must continue to exemplify how democracy can work, argued Senegalese journalist Marwane Ben Yahmed in Africa Reports, adding that no one knows how it will all turn out.

“But one thing is certain: Sonko and his supporters wanted power and they got it,” he wrote. “The Senegalese people wanted a break with the past, even if it meant stepping into the unknown, and they got it. It’s an experience worth having, it’s the very essence of democracy. And if the politicians disappoint the people, they already know what the outcome will be.”

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