Top officials tampered with government coffers. There is rampant corruption. It is the order of the day. Some of our leaders will embezzle huge amounts of money and send it to foreign banks.
When journalists reveal these misappropriations of funds in their papers, these corrupt leaders will not be pleased and will order their arrest. They will be detained and sometimes tortured to death.
The opposition will hold protest rallies and denounces such leaders; they will be forcefully dispersed by soldiers, but they will stand firm because they feel that it is their constitutional right to hold rallies. Fighting will erupt and opposition supporters will be beaten seriously and some may lose their lives in the protest.
Citizens will feel disillusioned and will no longer put up with the way we are being governed. Alas! The military will seize power. They will dissolve parliament and suspend the constitution. Political parties will be blamed and the military men will be applauded by civilians.
When such military takeovers happen, our elected leaders will flee from our countries. We will hope for the best, thinking that things will be put in order. We will be in turn faced with disappointment, realizing that the uniformed boys who come to salvage us are more corrupt than our elected leaders. After suspending the constitution, they will rule with heavy hands. Everybody will be silenced.
But we should be cautious if we should blame the military. Former presidents like Siad Barre of Somalia, Idi Amin of Uganda, Mobuto Sesseco of Congo Kinshasa (now Democratic Republic of Congo), Kamusu Banda of Malawi etc. were all dictators and had terrorized their people. When shall Africa stop crying?
Things did not go down well with President Macky Sall when former president, Abdoulaye Wade, groomed his son, Karim Wade, so that he would hand over power to him when he wanted to leave the presidency before the end of his term, as alleged by his opponents.
But as days passed, hardship hit Senegal. The rate of unemployment rose and the people could not put up with the high cost of living. They vented their anger in the local government elections and voted against President Wade’s party. His son, Karim Wade, lost the mayoral election in Dakar.
Fearing that he would lose the presidential election in 2012, President Wade decided to amend the Senegalese constitution from the 51% requirement to be elected president to 25%. President Macky Sall, then an opposition leader, was not happy and his supporters. They protested in the streets and had clashes with the security forces. He was determined to continue the protest along with his supporters. The tension was high and President Wade succumbed. Macky Sall contested the 2012 presidential election and won.
When former President Yaya Jammeh lost the presidential election in 2016, he decided not to step down. It was President Macky Sall who said that dictatorship would not be allowed in The Gambia and the Senegalese soldiers led the ECOWAS mission in The Gambia to force Yaya Jammeh to step down. They succeeded. Yes, President Macky Sall would not allow dictatorship in The Gambia but under his watch, dictatorship is reigning in Senegal. What an irony!
According to opposition supporters, Ousman Sonko, an opposition leader in Senegal, has not enjoyed peace because of President Macky Sall’s dictatorship. While he was in President Macky Sall’s government, he exposed corruption activities by government officials. This did not go down well with President Macky Sall, who ended up sacking him. But President Sall himself said that he had placed his elbow on corrupt practices by government officials. What a shame!
Ousman Sonko would tell the Senegalese people the economic situation in the country and the embezzlement of funds. Knowing that he is popular with the youth, President Sall’s government charged him with rape and threatening to kill, following an allegation by Aji Sarr. She said that she was pregnant from the rape but after two years, there was no pregnancy. She was used by President Sall’s conspirators to frame him. Everybody knew that this was politically motivated, as President Sall’s aim was to prevent Ousman Sonko from contesting the 25th February, 2024, presidential election.
During the first sitting of the case, Ousman Sonko went to attend the court proceedings. He was forced by the police to take another route on the court premises but he refused, fearing that he would be assassinated. He was already at the court premises before time. Why forcing him to take a route he did not want to take?
The authorities arrested him and took him to prison. This angered his supporters who came out to the streets and demonstrated, calling for his liberation; they burnt tyres and destroyed properties. This forced the authorities to release their leader. Fourteen people lost their lives during the scuffle.
Ousman Sonko was attacked by supporters of the ruling coalition when he was on a tour of the country. As he was going to attend the second sitting of the case, the police stopped his car and forced him out and put him into their car. He accused them of spraying poisonous teargas on him. As a result, he was hospitalized in a private clinic. A doctor had confirmed that they used dangerous substance on him.
The case was adjourned for judgement in the absence of Ousman Sonko. Aji Sarr had testified but was inconsistent in her testimony. The judge acquitted Ousman Sonko on the rape and threatening to kill charge but convicted and sentenced him to two years on ‘corrupting the youth’ charge.
What was in the charge sheet against Ousman Sonko was rape and threatening to kill. The charge of corrupting the youth was never in the charge sheet. This came up on judgement day. Everybody was taken by surprise. It was a trumped-up charge. It was never before the court.
The recent postponement of the presidential election by President Sall caused chaos and anger. People manifested in different parts of the country. According to President Sall, there was an issue between the National Assembly and the Constitutional Council. He said this was why he postponed the election. This is misleading. The issue was between Karim Wade and the Constitutional Council who disqualified him from running as a presidential candidate. Although he was among the list of candidates who were confirmed earlier by the Constitutional Council to be qualified to run as presidential candidate but one of the qualified candidates, Cherno Alasan Sall, raised an objection that Karim Wade has double citizenship. This was why he was later disqualified.
Karim Wade’s party, Senegalese Democratic Party, accused two judges of being corrupted by President Sall’s candidate, Amadou Bah, to disqualify Karim Wade from contesting the election. The judges, as a result, filed a suit against Karim Wade’s party. Then, why a parliamentary inquiry when there was already a suit filed against the party? It was not necessary. The court can determine whether Amadou Bah corrupted the two judges or not. What is stopping Karim Wade from resorting to the courts if he feels that his disqualification is illegal? In fact, the Parliamentary Commission of Enquiry has been dissolved because there is no evidence to prove that Amadou Bah corrupted the said judges to disqualify Karim Wade. This shows that the allegation is not true. President Sall is just wallowing in political manipulation.
Why ECOWAS did not tell President Sall it is unconstitutional to postpone the election? But they were quick to sanction Mali, Guinea, Niger and Burkina Faso for a military coup. This is hypocrisy.
Walf TV was closed down by President Sall’s government, and had their licence revoked. President Sall has easily forgotten that it was the late Sidi Lamin Nyass, the proprietor of the TV station, who accorded him the opportunity to address his supporters on his TV when he was in the opposition. The security forces threw teargas into the office of the TV station and brutalized a female journalist who was just doing her work, covering a demonstration.
Under President Sall’s watch, from 2021 to 2024, over 70 people were killed by security forces for exercising their constitutional right, and over 1000 detained in prison as political detainees. It is good news that President Sall’s government has released some political prisoners, and very soon Ousman Sonko and Basiru Diomaye Faye will be released from prison, according to Alieu Tine.
“The postponement of Senegal’s presidential election puts the country on a dangerous path towards dictatorship, and must not be allowed to stand. President Macky Sall’s blatant disregard for the Senegalese constitution and flagrant disrespect for the Senegalese people’s support for democracy undermines decades of progress since independence in what was once considered one of the most reliable and vibrant democracies in Africa. President Sall must reverse this reckless decision, and ensure elections are held before the end of his constitutionally mandated term,” US Senator Ben Cardin, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said.
An angry opposition supporter stated: “The 2nd April, 2024, is the end of President Sall’s term. If he fails to relinquish power on the 3rd April, 2024, we will march massively to State House and remove him. This is the only language he understands.”
President Sall made a lot of promises to his people. This is why they voted for him in 2012 against former President Abdoulaye Wade. They felt disillusioned about the current government. Perhaps they have now realized that the devil you know is better than the angel you don’t know.
Now that the Constitutional Council has decided against the postponement of the election by President Sall, the political dust will soon settle down.
This shows that the National Assembly Members who passed the law to postpone the election until 15th December, 2024, is illegal. What a shame!
