At the Council of Ministers held on September 28, the Head of State instructed the Minister of Justice to examine the possibility of an amnesty for people who have lost their voting rights.From the onset, it should be noted that amnesty is granted for offences.But it is clear that political figures, KhalifaSall and Karim Wade are the ones targeted by this proposed measure.The question of the rehabilitation of the aforementioned two has been at the forefront of political affairs since their final conviction by the courts.I do not know Mr. Wade, whose crimes under the umbrella of his father’s presidency were in many respects quite unscrupulous, consistent with the unbalanced governance between 2000 and 2012.But his conviction by the CREI was, in my opinion, scandalous.This court is problematic because of the way it operates, a way which denies the elementary principles of law on the burden of proof and on the possibility of appealing a court decision.Moreover, it is often argued that the conviction of Mr. Wade was a « social demand ».Since when do the compulsions of the masses justify twisting the arm of the general principles of law?Giving in to popular instincts to convict people in a court of law is populism;it is a danger for a democracy in which every citizen could be imprisoned in the name of the so-called « social demand ».Moreover, many of those who demanded the imprisonment of Mr. Wade are now his ardent defenders.People change their minds and the law follows its course while remaining faithful to just values and principles.I do know KhalifaSall, whose competence, sense of state and human qualities have always impressed me.The former mayor of Dakar is one of the most courteous and elegant people I know in Senegalese politics.But he knows my opinion about his new allies.On March 8, 2021, I was with him when the decision to end Mr.Sonko‘s custody was announced.While noting his choice of alliance without approving it, I told him what I thought of the leader of Pastef, his fascist substrate, his seditious apparatus and his outrageous methods.The decision to grant amnesty to the facts that we know and to rehabilitate fellow citizens Wade and Sall is salutary in the sense of calming a political field that is increasingly crossing the boundaries of adversity to spill over into hate.It will also open up a new cycle that is necessary and urgent since the events of March 2021, which were an opportunity seized by a band of adventurers to rob the Republic and subject it to their seditious agenda.Senegal is a democracy, in spite of the verbal excesses noted here and there, and the lies repeated many times by the entrepreneurs of hatred with a pernicious political agenda.Since the confrontations between LamineGuèye and Senghor, then Senghor-Cheikh Anta Diop, AbdouDiouf–Abdoulaye Wade, our country has prided itself on being a place of civilised dispute, which has certainly known episodes of violence, as was the case in 1988 and 1993.This tradition of « critical dialogue » must endure despite the temptation of civil war that has won over a section of the political community and entire masses of our fellow citizens.The Senegalese opposition will be strengthened by the reinstatement of Mr.Sall and Mr. Wade, who are vehemently contesting the regime of President Sall and can present a project in 2024.And this is an excellent thing, because a democracy is honoured by a strong democratic and republican opposition that can offer an alternative vision convincing enough to win a majority.The changeover being the natural breath of a democracy.But beyond the people, there is a democratic turn that we must take to allow major currents of our political history, social democracy and liberalism, to express themselves in the next presidential election.This will allow breaking the morbid face-off between MackySall and OusmaneSonko and to open-up the political competition.The advent of Mr.Sonko as the only major leader in a position to compete in the universal suffrage against the presidential camp reduces Senegalese politics to a sad, outrageous, dry monologue that is dangerous for democracy, public freedoms, and the Republic in which he does not believe.We are in a major moment of our political history.The populists, linked to reactionaries and Islamists, are at the gates of power and threaten our democratic advances and the Republic as a whole.To face them is an imperative necessity.The fascist hordes and their leader, an ignorant and conceited hothead, must be fought and extracted by ideas and on the political field for the benefit of the movements that remain in the arc of democracy and the Republic.By Hamidou ANNE

/ hamidou.anne@lequotidien.sn

  • Translation by Dema SANE / Serigne S. DIAGNE