Ousmane Sonko had announced his colours, declaring loud and clear, that he has « no accountability to journalists or politicians« . We pointed out to him that « this is governing by arrogance« . So, it should hardly have come as a surprise that he refused to appear before MPs for a General Policy Statement (Dpg). Yet, he had announced to the Council of Ministers on June 5, 2024 that he was preparing for this exercise.  Moreover, he had already issued a circular, dated May 16, 2024, instructing the members of his government to send him their contributions to the document that would serve as the basis for this exercise, by May 24, 2024 at the latest. In the end, the Prime Minister found the most far-fetched alibi to avoid going before the National Assembly, an institutional formality provided for by article 55 of the Constitution. 

The « fake » is not from the National Assembly but from the Prime Minister, who wants to replace it with a self-selected cenacle.

In collusion with the Yewwi Askan Wi (Yaw) parliamentary group, he found the pretext that the National Assembly’s internal regulations were imperfect. He pretends to forget that, whatever the imperfections of the National Assembly’s Standing Orders may be, the hierarchy of legal norms places the Constitution above the Organic Law on Standing Orders. Every first-year law student knows this. Failure to comply with the Dpg is an effective violation of the Constitution. To add insult to injury, Ousmane Sonko has called for a Dpg before a jury of his choosing.  Substituting MPs elected by the People to a cenacle chosen by a Prime Minister is nothing short of an institutional coup d’état. He assures us that he can find « personalities of better quality than these current MPs« . Guy Marius Sagna will appreciate. All things being equal, it would be like the President of the Republic taking office without taking the constitutional oath, or taking it in front of the local Imam and his « naïms » and muezzins, instead of the Constitutional Council.  And the Yaw MPs are so incoherent that they support the refusal of a Dpg before this National Assembly and yet continue to participate in the work of this institution. They also forget that on the basis of the same rules of procedure, Prime Minister Amadou Ba had carried out a Dpg, following which this same parliamentary group, led by Birame Souleye Diop, tabled a motion of censure which was examined on December 15, 2024. 

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The Dpg is such an important act in the regular functioning of the institutions, that it constitutes a good opportunity for the government to reinforce its legitimacy before the national representation, by means of a request for a vote of confidence. The opposition will also have the opportunity to table a motion of censure. Ousmane Sonko was afraid to go before MPs, and for good reason. This is a serious exercise and cannot be carried out in a dilettantish manner.  The Prime Minister is disarmed, especially since the famous PROJECT he sold to the electorate has turned out to be a chimaera. He is not yet in a position to set out the main lines of his action at the head of the government; unless he is a Prime Minister who admits, without any qualms, that he is a continuation of what Macky Sall was doing. The Prime Minister is well aware of his technical limitations and his lack of knowledge of the State’s dossiers, and is therefore unable to keep up with the State’s progress, in a flurry of public interpellations in front of the cameras.

The spectre of the motion of censure and VAR

He was dreading the tabling of a motion of censure being actively prepared by Benno Bokk Yaakaar (Bby) MPs. A majority would be needed to censure the government. Prime Minister Sonko, sensing the coup and not being too sure of his reappointment, did not dare take the risk. This shows, if proof were needed, that the man has no respect for institutions and their proper functioning. Moreover, who could have believed that Ousmane Sonko would stand up in front of 165 MPs, the majority of whom are hostile? The man who didn’t have the courage to answer the summons of little Adji Sarr, who accused him of sexual abuse; the man who preferred to call thousands of young people to « Mortal Kombat » to avoid any confrontation with the law. Who could believe that the man who had called on his people to act as shields against a libel suit brought against him by Minister Mame Mbaye Niang could go before a hostile parliament? Dozens of deaths! Who would have thought that Ousmane Sonko’s pride would be whipped, having refused to be confronted by Mamadou Mamour Diallo, as part of a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the 94 billion embezzlement charges he had brought against the former Director of the Domains Department? Ousmane Sonko, a member of parliament in his own right, had himself called for a parliamentary commission of inquiry to be set up. Only to back down! Ousmane Sonko, imprisoned for six months for his calls for insurrection, spent his time whining and feigning illness, poisoning and hospitalization. His two wives even came to his aid, begging the intercession of President Macky Sall’s wife, to whom he spared no insanity. Yet Bassirou Diomaye Faye endured his 11 months in prison without a sigh. Did Mr. Sonko have the guts to live with Adji Sarr in the same country after his release? Who knows if he didn’t take the precaution of organizing Adji Sarr’s exile in the « Cap Manuel protocol »?

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Ousmane Sonko ends up hiding behind MPs. Ayib Daffé can claim that the rules of procedure of the National Assembly are a « forgery » when, just a few weeks ago, he was elected President of the Yaw parliamentary group on the basis of this same text, which was not a « forgery » when it was used to pass an amnesty law for Pastef troublemakers. There are people who observe the rules of honour, as one observes the stars, from a great distance » (Victor Hugo).

Gatsa-Gatsa (a vulgar name for the law of Talion in Wolof), boomerang return

We’ve said time and time again that Ousmane Sonko has no restraint and doesn’t know when to stop, and that « every step you take backwards, Ousmane Sonko and his followers will take two steps forward to trample on the rule of law » (June 5, 2023).  He will be the only Prime Minister in the world to refuse to go before Parliament. Wearily, the BBY parliamentary group has decided to make amends, and how. They have two fatal resolutions for the government. One is to table a motion of censure, and the other is to pass a law stripping the President of the Republic of any power to dissolve the National Assembly. The answer will be resounding, as the announced merger of Benno with Yaw MPs is sure to give the Prime Minister’s critics a sufficient majority to pass the proposed laws. The humiliation for Ousmane Sonko is likely to come from his own Pastef party. The many MPs who were elected thanks to the fact that Yaw’s list of incumbent candidates was cancelled in the 2022 legislative elections, are aware that they will not be invested as incumbents in the next early legislative elections. He finds them illegitimate and never ceases to snub these « usurpers, Macky Sall’s MPs« .  The dissolution was announced to take place as soon as possible, and in this crisis, MPs are finding a windfall to « cement » their mandate. It is therefore in their interest to take part in any action that would preserve their mandate as MPs until the end of the legislature, scheduled for 2027.

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To begin with, the budgetary orientation debate on June 29, 2024 has been cancelled. Ousmane Sonko’s bravado and headlong rush will result in his own hara-kiri, and he will lose on all fronts: not only will he be unable to prevent the motion of censure, but he will also be deprived of any chance of winning a new parliamentary majority in the short term. What’s more, in such a context of political crisis, he appears to everyone as the provocative factor in the crisis by his attitude, and President Bassirou Diomaye Faye would be inclined not to reappoint him in the event of government censure. It is therefore understandable that he should have welcomed the mediation undertaken by civil society figures, in an attempt to calm the political crisis. The Head of State may well end up feeling obliged to part company with the Prime Minister, unless he chooses to live and die with him. After all, he is « the guarantor of the proper functioning of the institutions« .

« Serigne ngundu », the Prime Minister’s ultimate insult to the Head of State

What else can we learn from the brazenness and bad language of politicians since the Pastef leaders took to the microphones? As an opponent, Ousmane Sonko has always spoken as anyone would have forbidden his own children. If the young are taught never to use swear words, perhaps the same should apply to him. Ousmane Sonko systematically and ferociously attacked the most representative elite in all social bodies.  He doesn’t refrain from saying one word too many. No doubt he didn’t think that his own weapons would be turned on him and, above all, that VAR would allow him to hear again what he might have said about others and would abhor hearing said about himself. Now Prime Minister, he hasn’t mellowed for all that, and the mustard is getting up his nose. It’s even worse, as his position and responsibilities within the state apparatus amplify the seriousness of his statements, deeds and actions. 

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A Prime Minister who, without any regard for the principle of the separation of powers between the Executive, the Judiciary and Parliament, took the liberty of gathering his supporters on the esplanade of the Grand Théâtre in Dakar on June 9, 2024, to tell them of his desire to « sweep out the Justice system of bad magistrates » and, in the process, publicly accuse the President of the Constitutional Council of corruption. He committed the blunder of revealing his exchanges with the Minister of Justice on the attitude to adopt regarding legal proceedings concerning militants of his Pastef party. It seems unseemly to publicize instructions or injunctions given by a Prime Minister to his Minister of Justice.  But Minister Ousmane Diagne has the disadvantage of being credited with a certain respectability, whereas Ousmane Sonko would never suffer a star to shine beside his own. « Arrogance is the soul mate of stupidity« . A Prime Minister who allows himself to judge the quality of magistrates and members of parliament!

Who hasn’t been embarrassed to see the Prime Minister, in meetings, paying more attention to his cell phone than to the President of the Republic? Worse still, we’ve heard him speak of President Faye with a casualness that borders on ridicule? Ousmane Sonko publicly mocked President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, to general hilarity, calling him « Serigne ngundu ». It’s the name of a vulgar comic character whose shortcomings it’s common decency to keep quiet about. Ousmane Sonko did this dirty deed, in order, he says, to show a closeness, a friendly relationship with Bassirou Diomaye Faye. This is a gross misunderstanding of the differences between responsibilities at state level and relationships in social life. But for those who know the etymology of the nickname « Serigne ngundu », the affront is repugnant. In fact, « Serigne ngundu » is, in the « daaras », the traditional centers of Koranic teaching, the preceptor who is less educated than his disciples; the Koranic master won over by cretinism.  If Ousmane Sonko was unaware of the significance of this little name, he must now apologize to the President of the Republic, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, to the Head of State’s wives and children, and to all Senegalese. It is unacceptable to treat the first of the Senegalese people in this way. It’s an insult, an offense. The Prime Minister now finds himself in the worst position to offend by insulting the Head of State (article 234 of the Penal Code)!

By Madiambal DIAGNE / mdiagne@lequotidien.sn

  • Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH / Serigne S. DIAGNE