The new government has announced with great fanfare the presentation, this Friday, of a digital platform, “Jubbanti”. The expressly developed tool is being launched as a prelude to the National Dialogue Day on May 28. Senegal is a land of dialogue, and each regime will have its own agora to maintain its conversations! Until then, let’s hope that prisoners of conscience such as Bah Diakhaté and Imam Cheikh Tidiane Ndao will be released out of the kindness of those in high places, just as they were granted clemency in the recent past for abuses and excesses that still sound vile.

From the little we know of the “Jubbanti” platform, it’s a tool for participation in the governance of Justice, offering citizens a platform to express their opinions on how the Temple of Themis operates. The aim is to reform by inviting everyone to give their opinion or vision of an inclusive, transparent and accessible Justice system.

Read the column – Food Self-Sufficiency: Some Protectionist Thoughts to the Rescue

In promoting this initiative, there’s no shortage of classic populist shortcuts, with a desire to give the citizen the impression that they are at the centre of everything, and that finally here’s a forum to make themselves heard. I don’t think that those involved in the justice system, who know what’s at stake in their sector and the realities of their profession, would want to have an anthology of opinions on what good citizen justice is, based on the simple comfort of their certainties and the courage that comes with a connected era where, at the click of a button, everyone thinks that their voice should count for everything.  There is no shortage of mechanisms for consulting the public on good justice, and good practices can be found in different countries. However, it would be interesting to see the operating model of this platform, and especially to have a view on how all the contributions of each of our compatriots on what is an ideal Justice will be put in intelligence to have a reasonable frame.

Read the column – Lessons on African Pride from our Superintendent of Finance, Adesina

This is the country where magistrates are applauded or insulted depending on whether or not they rule in favour of or against people.  A judge is good as long as he renders a decision that conforms to our prisms; he is a pariah when his decision creates discomfort. At Le Quotidien, publication director Mohamed Guèye’s words still ring true when it comes to the independence of the judiciary and the administration of the rule of law in Senegal: “Talking about the independence of the judiciary in Senegal is like talking about the sex of angels. Judges are applauded or have their ears whistled at depending on the decisions they hand down.” It is in this country that those who embody the highest institutions of the Republic have spent their time insulting those who render Justice. They have never ceased to desecrate the bodies whose construction they wish to invite the citizen to contribute to, by calling on the views of all. 

«Sa Gis-Gis ci Doxalinu Yoon (Your Views on How Justice Functions) » is the name of the “Jubbanti” platform. I’d like the promoters and the players who will use it in their reform projects to be as exhaustive as possible about how this tool works, especially if it is to be emulated in other sectors of public life. Will there be a version of the “Jubbanti” tool to track the prices of consumer goods on the markets, or worse, to count the number of barrels or cubic meters of gas leaving Senegal’s subsoil? Betting on the transparency of the gods and wanting a translucent state, let’s be crazy! In other words, we’re not out of the woods with this logic of overplaying transparency, citizen involvement and excessive accountability. Let’s just pray that we’re not sold an empty shell with just a home page, only to end up uninstalling the software once it’s served its purpose as a publicity stunt.

Read the column – The Bal, a Rebound for our Economy

I can’t help but ask a few questions out of layman’s curiosity. Will the platform be an aggregator for reporting or denouncing from any person with their smartphone? Will there be any serious contributions from players in the justice sector to help reform this sector? Why the eagerness to play the transparency card by inviting everyone to the table, when the players in the justice sector are well aware of all their problems and have consistently made contributions in favour of greater transparency and independence?

While we wait to see what the announced platform will be like, I can’t help but regret this zealous circus that harps on transparency by inviting any layperson on serious issues to pit their opinions against accomplished knowledge and proven skills. The populist card shouldn’t lead us to turn everything into an open discussion, so that all counter opinions find legitimacy. By dint of throwing the rope of unfiltered inclusion, a race to the bottom is inevitable. You can’t question experts or give their arguments the same value as the rantings of ordinary citizens who have been given a voice by a high-speed Internet connection and a de-structured public debate.

Read the column – Under the Watch of Its Sons, Senegal Still Lives

The current regime can sell its immaculate honesty and unfailing transparency everywhere, and is willing to get to the bottom of a lot of things. But I’m the kind of person who always feels a dissonance when an overdose of honesty and transparency is displayed in speech and practice, backed up by the almost blind trust demanded of everyone. I’m sure I’m thinking of Michel Audiard’s stubborn words in The Counterfeiters of Paris: “I know your honesty, but I also know my classics. Ever since Adam had a rib removed and Napoleon waited for Grouchy, all the great business deals that went wrong were based on trust.”   The reader will be able to understand political project or governance project with transparency in its saddle as “messy affair”.

The potpourri of ideas that we want to turn into a thesaurus for resolving all the issues of the day in terms of transparency, good governance and optimal management, will end up further de-structuring all our sectors. Our experts will opt for silence, at the risk of seeing their expertise trivialized by barroom chatter or the opinions of the average person, that is if they are not insulted copiously. The “Jubbanti” initiative is certainly a step towards reforming our country’s justice system, but let’s pray that it doesn’t replace our judges with all-powerful citizens who will rule the law, with all the damage that goes with it.

By Serigne Saliou DIAGNE / saliou.diagne@lequotidien.sn

  • Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH