« Letter to President Diomaye: Let’s save time, let’s move on from the Conferences of Distraction! » This is the title of the contribution I authored in Le Quotidien’s May 27, 2024 issue. With this contribution on the eve of the « Consultations on Justice, » we drew the attention of the President of the Republic to the uselessness of discussing a segment that has been the subject of so much discussion in the past. « For the Conferences on Justice, it would be good to invite the President of the Republic and the 263 guests to avoid wasting their time by dusting off the « Report of the Consultative Committee on the Modernization of Justice » from April 2018. Everything is there, all that remains is to apply them for a Justice system reconciled with citizens, » we said. Not without adding: « President Diomaye should avoid falling into an approach that does not take into account the sense of urgency or the order of priorities, and above all, to waste our time by trying to reinvent the wheel.  Let us avoid using these meetings as a weapon of mass distraction to divert the people’s attention from the real issues and real emergencies. Everything is in this 2018 report prepared under the leadership of Souleymane Téliko, president of the Union of Magistrates of Senegal (UMS).”

The Justice Conferences to confirm Diomaye’s denial

Time seems to be proving us right on several points. First, the conclusions from the conclaves under the auspices of the new government are textually similar to those from the consultations of the UMS, the National Commission for Institutional Reform (CNRI), and the National Conference. The same points of agreement and the same points of disagreement. Better still, the only thing these consultations have allowed us to observe is the President of the Republic’s renunciation of his desire to leave the High Council of the Judiciary, as he had committed to doing in his campaign program.  Receiving the conclusions of the Conferences, the Head of State will say: « It has come back to me that magistrates do not agree with the President of the Republic leaving the High Council of the Judiciary. I want to clarify that I do not want to remain there or leave it. I am neutral with regard to the High Council of the Judiciary. » Not without adding: « If the arguments of the majority have more weight in relation to relevance, know that I will no longer remain in the CSM. And I am not obsessed with it. But I think we should listen carefully to the judges who want the President of the Republic to remain at the CSM, because after all, their independence is at stake. But even if we listen to them, and their arguments are not convincing, I will not stay. So, I absolutely do not want to stay there, but I also do not want to leave.” On April 5, while receiving journalists at the Palace, he showed even more reserve about his CMS exit. He said that what he had seen after a year in power pushed him to stay. No matter how many twists and turns, the denial was a done deal.

Read the column – The residue method

The other element that confirms the distraction that these Justice Conferences have constituted is the follow-up to the recommendations. For a year now, nothing that was agreed upon at these conclaves has been implemented. The Constitutional Court promised to replace the Constitutional Council has still not been established. The public prosecutor still has too much power. The detention and liberties judge is yet to be the body that arbitrates between the prosecution and the investigating judge. However, during the Council of Ministers on July 10, 2024, President Diomaye asked the Prime Minister, the Minister of Justice, and the relevant ministers to « to propose a timetable for implementing reforms in the justice sector in line with the government’s legislative program. » The Council of Ministers’ press release stated that « this legislative agenda should include, in particular, the revision of the Constitution and specific codes. » The Head of State also asked the Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice to « make a monthly report to the Council of Ministers on the status of implementation of the recommendations and decisions from the Justice Conference and to take into account, in this exercise, their conformity with the values ​​of our society, our culture and our beliefs. » Until now, there has been no report to the Council of Ministers, nor any reforms from the Conference proposed.

Read the column – A President doesn’t lament, he acts

It is in this context that the upcoming National Dialogue on the « political system » sounds like a new distraction. « This dialogue concerns the political system, which must be understood as all the mechanisms by which the devolution of power must take place in Senegal and which is underpinned by the Senegalese social contract. Therefore, all components of the Nation are of equal dignity, » explains Dr. Cheikh Guèye, General Facilitator. He insists that « we are seen almost everywhere as an example, but not all of us are satisfied with the state of our democracy. A democracy that generates so much violence and deaths is a sick democracy. Therefore, we must dare to examine it and treat it. »  This is the meaning of this dialogue. » Except that Senegalese democracy has not generated « so much violence and deaths. » Rather, it was a private matter that took place in a sordid place, pitting a political opponent against an innocent young woman, which is in reality the element that caused so much violence and deaths. The origin of the deaths is not political, but the politicization of a private matter.

Twenty-five (25) points of agreement during the 2020 dialogue with General Niang
Why dialogue over a « political system » that has generated three alternations? Indeed, Senegal has experienced democratic progress since the Consensual Electoral Code of 1992 under the leadership of Magistrate Kéba Mbaye. Alternations within local authorities or at the head of state have become commonplace. The electoral register is no longer an issue because its reliability is beyond question. The professionalism of the administration organizing the elections (Territorial Command, General Directorate of Elections, Autonomous National Electoral Commission, etc.) is no longer a source of suspicion between the government and the opposition.

Read the column – The economy in agony as Sonko takes revenge

All these questions, and many others, were already addressed in August 2020 in the dialogue led by the late General Mamadou Niang, former president of the Election Observatory (predecessor of the CENA) and former Minister of the Interior. It should already be noted that the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the 2025 dialogue are identical to those led by General Niang. This did not escape the attention of electoral expert Alioune Souaré, a former MP: « Despite all the noise around it, they have only copied the terms of reference of the 2020 dialogue, » he declared in the columns of Les Echos newspaper. He added: « It was enough to evaluate the 2020 dialogue instead of mobilizing more millions of CFA francs » for an exercise that has already been completed.

According to the « Special Report to the President of the Republic » produced by the Cellular Commission of the Political Dialogue of the National Dialogue, twenty-five (25) points were the subject of an agreement between the different political actors including Pastef represented by Aldiouma Sow (now Minister Advisor to President Diomaye). Among other points which were the subject of agreement, the modification of law 81-17 of May 6, 1981 relating to political parties, the strengthening of the conditions for the creation of a political party, the principle of public funding of political parties, the principle of funding coalitions of political parties. Political actors even agreed on the need to bring Law 78-02 of 29 January 1978 relating to meetings into line with the current Constitution, by incorporating peaceful protests and the right to protest.

Senegal has always been a country of dialogue, so nothing new under the sun; priorities and emergencies lie elsewhere. We experienced the National Conference in 2008, the work of the CNRI in 2014, and the political dialogue of 2020. The current government has enough elements to strengthen this country’s institutions. We just need to take the conclusions and apply them to breathe new life into our democracy. Senegal was not born on March 24, 2024; trying to hide the major advances in our democracy and attempting to rewrite our political history is a waste of time.

Goorgorlu faces much more serious problems than a « national waxtaane »
Senegal can do without a dialogue on issues that have already been dismissed. The authorities have better things to do than waste our time and money. The priorities are there and await their resolution. The Senegalese economy is dying, despite oil and gas, the benefits of which are not yet visible. The growing precariousness and impoverishment of the populations of large cities should be a wake-up call.  Goorgorlu faces much more serious problems than a « national waxtaane » that isn’t providing their daily bread. Tabaski is less than a month away; and there are no sheep in sight, let alone money to buy them. The waves of layoffs have passed. Students are out on the streets.

The urgent need is not for political dialogue, but for socio-economic dialogue. Our businessmen are being persecuted. Investors seem to prefer other West African countries, because the Pastef regime has abolished all guarantees of legal security for investments with a settling of scores disguised as accountability. Under the Pastef regime, it has become dangerous to be a businessman and win government contracts.
By Bachir FOFANA

  • Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH