Alioune Tine, president and founder of Afrikajom Center, says he has the impression of witnessing the establishment of a “Pastefian state”, given the appointments to positions of responsibility made by the new regime. A position that this civil society figure defended at a round table discussion.

The remark is significant. It comes from Alioune Tine. The president of think-tank Afrikajom Center has his own take on the country’s progress since the advent of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye. “From my point of view, after having witnessed what could be called an aggressive state, we don’t have the impression that we’ve turned the page on the partisan state,” says Alioune Tine, who continues to contest the invalidation of Sonko and Karim Wade’s candidacies in the last presidential election. Speaking at a round table organized yesterday by the Senegalese Association of Constitutional Law (Asdc), Mr. Tine told the audience, as Seneweb pointed out: “We have the impression that a Pastefian State is gradually being put in place.”

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The appointments of many Pastef party members to strategic positions are a clear indication of this sentiment. In his speech, Tine also went over the many stages of the political and electoral crisis that the country had to go through before reaching the March 24 elections.

This eminent member of civil society continued: “The challenge is to see how we can get through this new mutation of democracy, and not reduce our democracy to an electoral democracy. And not to reduce the legitimacy of those who are elected. There are new legitimacies emerging, and they are strong. »

Analysing the evolution of the Diomaye-Sonko duo at the head of the country, Alioune Tine points out: “The inversion of the hierarchy of the ruling party (Pastef) means that we have someone with a surcharge of legitimacy (Ousmane Sonko, editor’s note) who becomes Prime Minister. This will totally decentralize power, and we’re witnessing it. It’s going to create new tensions that we need to prevent right now. »

« On the other side, we have Diomaye’s (the President of the Republic) political debt. An extremely heavy debt which is a weight on his shoulders at the moment. That’s what’s creating tension at the pinnacle of power,” he added.

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Referring to President Macky Sall’s rejection of the candidacy of Amadou Ba, his own candidate, Alioune Tine recalls the upheavals that took place last February: “If there’s one parameter that Macky Sall missed and that turned everything upside down, it’s Bassirou Diomaye Faye. The validation of Diomaye’s candidacy was a moment of destabilization for the regime. That’s when a lot of things happened, with the postponement, the accusations by the Pds against the judges of the Constitutional Council. »

By Amadou MBODJI / ambodji@lequotidien.sn

  • Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH