The camp of the mayor of Dakar is working on convincing Ahmed Aïdara, the parliamentarian and mayor of Guédiawaye, to withdraw his candidacy for the presidency of the National Assembly.  The arguments for obtaining his support are based on the fact that without Aïdara, Barthélemy Dias would be elected, and could thus avoid prison in the Ndiaga Diouf case.  And the same Aïdara could find himself a minister in a government of cohabitation.

It is said that so long as it’s not finished, nothing is over. This could apply to the soap opera around a chair, which occupies both Benno’s parliamentarians and those of the opposition.  It is not only public opinion that is interested in the identity of the individual to be called to occupy the seat of the second personality of the State from next Monday. The different members of the various political chapels are also in the same state of mind.  And even doubly as far as they are concerned, because many of them have started to have dreams in colour, thinking that the current configuration of the Hemicycle is conducive to all scenarios.

Nevertheless, if Macky Sall can feel that he has been properly locked in his side, his opponents, for their part, are rather seeking to bridge the gaps. Because, if the Conference of Leaders was able to impose silence about their ambitions and strategy on the different candidates, it has not been able to put an end to their thirst for power.

Le Quotidien has learnt that the camp of the mayor of Dakar, Barthélemy Dias, is working on their colleague mayor of the city of Guédiawaye, Ahmed Aïdara, so that the latter withdraws his candidacy and leaves the boulevard to him. Barthélemy Dias is convinced that if the coalition Yewwi askan wi (Yaw) presented a single candidacy, in his person, it would be able to convince its allies in Wallu to withdraw the candidacy of Lamine Thiam, the parliamentarian and mayor of Kébémer. The mayor of Dakar would then have a boulevard in front of him. Supporters of the Dias Jr say they are convinced that the apparent harmony that reigns in the Benno bokk yaakaar’s camp is only appearance, and that sanction votes will not fail to manifest, in case of  a « questionable » choice for the chair, by the leader of the coalition, Macky Sall.

In these conditions, the candidate presented by the opposition, Yaw in theory, would not fail to climb to the chair. And all this would only have to do with the candidacy or not of Ahmed Aïdara. But the sledgehammer argument presented against the candidacy of Mr. Aïdara is nothing less than the liberty of the two tenors of the opposition that are Barthélemy Dias and Ousmane Sonko.

It was pointed out to the mayor of Guédiawaye that the only possibility for Barthélemy Dias to escape prison at the end of his appeal trial in the Ndiaga Diouf death case would be to become president of the National Assembly.  « This way, it would be difficult for Macky Sall to obtain the waiver of his parliamentary immunity and his incarceration, if he were to be found guilty by the Court of Appeal, » his supporters say. Moreover, the same people say they are convinced that if Barthélemy Dias found himself in prison for this crime, Ousmane Sonko would soon join him there. « We can be sure that in this hypothesis, the President of the Republic would be sufficiently emboldened to speed up the trial of Ousmane Sonko in the rape case against Adji Sarr, and to obtain his conviction there too. » The goal in both cases, according to these Yaw members, is to get two fierce opponents of a possible third term for Macky Sall to be sidelined.

And since there is no deal without compensation, people want Ahmed Aïdara to believe that the opposition in the Chair could impose cohabitation on President Macky Sall.  And in this hypothesis, nothing would prevent the mayor of Guédiawaye from finding himself at the head of a ministry.

Le Quotidien tried in vain to contact the mayor of Guédiawaye to obtain a comment from him on this matter.  It seems that Mr. Ahmed Aïdara was very busy yesterday, as his phone was ringing « busy » all the time. The newspaper is therefore not yet in a position to say what he really thinks about it.

By Mouhamed GUEYE / mgueye@lequotidien.sn 

  • Translation by Ndey Tapha SOSSEH / Serigne Saliou DIAGNE