The publication of the latest reports of the Court of Auditors arouses widespread indignation, as to the mismanagement noted in the management of public resources allocated to various administrations.The faults are serious and the casualness with which certain acts of predation have been committed leaves you speechless.It is as if impunity had been guaranteed to them in advance!However, the situation no longer allows such acts of bad governance to be passed on as profit and loss.It is indeed rare to find revelations of mismanagement that could have shocked public opinion so much.The revolt is mainly due to the fact that while everyone had fear in their stomachs, buried their dead in pain and feared being carried away by the Covid-19 pandemic, public officials took advantage of this general distress to fill their pockets, get rich as gods, without scruple, with cynicism.It is no exaggeration to say that if the significant resources released to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic had been used wisely, perhaps Senegal would not have buried as many dead as its economic and social fabric would have been more resilientthan the drama would not have reached the proportions to which we still suffer the consequences.The other reason holds due to the fact that the efforts made by Senegal in the fight against the pandemic were praised around the world and that our country had been cited as an example for its management of Covid-19.The responsiveness driven by President MackySall made it possible to show the way and international partners had not hesitated in helping and supporting Senegal, perhaps in much greater proportions than the aid granted to many other countries.We can imagine the disappointment of these partners and their overwhelming demand for truth and transparency.Moreover, international financial institutions have encouraged the government of Senegal and the Court of Auditors to make public the final report entitled: “Verification of the management of the response and solidarity fund against the effects of Covid19 (ForceCOVID).Management 2020 and 2021.”In any case, the Court of Auditors was going to do it, according to its own agenda because no report from the State control bodies escape publication now.What answers will the President of the Republic, MackySall bring to this outcry?Will he seek to save “his people” from opprobrium at the risk of seriously splattering his governance and his credo of transparency and virtuous governance?However, we had alerted through these columns, at the time, the commission of acts bamboula on the resources dedicated to Covid-19.In a column dated June 3, 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, we wanted to alert, to warn, emphasising in particular that: “The crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the weaknesses, shortcomings, gaps and other dysfunctions in government action.The failures are numerous.And as if touched by a curse, the ministers hardly managed to do things as they should.In truth, this government cannot go any further, at the risk of damaging the image of the Head of State and ending up compromising all that President MackySall has had to achieve in his public governance.”We insisted to the Head of State and his allies who were offended by certain criticisms by specifying to them that « it is not always because people do not like you ».Indeed, “It must be said that the management of the pandemic has exposed flaws and situations of incompetence that one could hardly suspect on the part of many ministers and their collaborators.There are also real cases of outrageous bad governance.The hour of reckoning for the use of the envelope of 1,000 billion francs, planned for response actions against Covid-19, has started to give rise to situations of great and delicate controversy.»It was to put the finger in particular on the dismantling of the centres for pandemic treatment (Cte) with materials which found themselves as if by chance in the souks of KeurSerignebi or that private medical clinics found themselves as if by magic endowed with breathing apparatus which they had completely lacked a few days earlier.These lines had provoked an outraged reaction from many government officials, including the Director General of Prodacat the time, PapeMalickNdour, stung by who knows what bee, who had stepped up to demand nothing less than the arrest of MadiambalDiagne who made serious accusations that would tarnish the image of the government.PapeMalickNdour will become Minister of Youth.Perhaps spurious zeal, coupled with the gift or the art of drowning the fish, ensures ministerial careers in this country!The Minister of Health AbdoulayeDioufSarr and his associates also poured out through the media to threaten me with complaints and who knows what wrath.We can, after the publication of the inventory made by the Court of Auditors, get a good idea of who really deserves to go to prison in this case!I replied to my slayers who designated me as a false friend of President Sall, on June 15, 2020, that “I made myself an oath to tell him the truth strictly, considering that I could only be useful to him and to be useful to the Republic in a posture of truth and frankness.On many occasions, one and the other, we were able to test our friendship.This does not mean that my pact with Senegal would suffer in any way.”As far as he is concerned, we can say that President MackySall had already formed his opinion on the mismanagement of the resources devoted to the fight against Covid-19.Indeed, in the hit parade of acts of predation of public resources, it is clear that the ministers sacked during the latest government reshuffles hold the upper hand.The general public now has a good explanation of the reasons that contributed to President MackySall‘s decision to separate from some members of his government.Certain dismissals provoked a lot of comments and misunderstandings, not to say strong protests.Some insiders were able to say, to calm the ardour, that the simple dismissal would be the best thing that could happen to a number of ministers who had just lost their place in government.The fact remains that all the ministers pinned and dismissed from the government have already been recycled to other public jobs, although in the government otherministers will have to hide from their colleagues after the startling revelations of the Court of Auditors.Some wanted to invoke the report of General François Ndiaye and the members of the “Force Covid-19” monitoring committee on the management of the pandemic to absolve themselves.This report, which clears most of the protagonists, is thus disavowed by the Court of Auditors.It was easy enough not to be mistaken.« General Ndiaye was in danger of seeing nothing but fire, » we had announced, especially since General François Ndiaye and his team were not equipped or prepared to carry out the necessary investigations with relevance and flush out the avatars of the management of resources swallowed up in hastily concluded contracts.It must also be said that everything was done to obstruct General Ndiaye and his teams in their mission.President Sall Promises to Shed Light Without Complacency
One cannot help but be angry that no one wanted to hear the alarm bells ringing.Unfortunately, we still predicted, on April 20, 2020, in an article entitled « MackySall wins and loses at the same time » that those close to the Head of State,“missed a great opportunity to prove their detractors wrong.We can never regret enough the sad controversy surrounding the management of the aid provided to socially disadvantaged populations to enable them to bear the economic and social consequences of the pandemic.Accusations of nepotism and lack of transparency have been levelled against the government of Senegal.This is damaging, because it alters this image so opportunely constructed.Yet there were so many warnings for those responsible for managing these funds to avoid any situation that is compromising or that would give food for thought to their detractors.The sacred union symphony had not prevented opponents of the MackySall regime from expressing doubts and suspicions about the virtuous management of the resources dedicated to the Covid-19 plan.Some people were reluctant to make their contributions, wanting to be careful not to give money that could be embezzled.It is certainly impossible in this country to avoid controversies linked to the management of public resources, but the government would have gained from being irreproachable since OusmaneSonko, at the end of an audience with President MackySall, displayed his reservations about good resource management.Caution was also required when MP Mamadou LamineDiallo and civil society figures refused to give the government a blank cheque on the management of these funds. It is also useful to remember the maxim that « misfortune does not only happen to others ».We know how public clamourhad pursued, for the rest of her life, a certain SigaSèyeCoulibaly, following donation operations in favour of the Senegalese Red Cross in the 1990s.Time has not erased either from memories, the opprobrium cast on Léna Fall Diagne because of the mismanagement of the « one woman, one gram of gold » campaign, supposed to be a harvest to help Senegal confront, an acute economic crisis in the 1980s.Who does not remember the setbacks of AïdaNdiongue and AbdoulAzizDiop and company, because of the management of the purchase operations of phytosanitary products, in 2008, within the framework of the « Plan Jaxaay« , initiated by President Abdoulaye Wade to help people affected by floods?In the management of the response against the Covid-19, the government had every good reason not to lend the flank, to avoid giving its detractors the stick and being flogged.The failures and other misunderstandings in the procurement of foodstuffs to be distributed to the populations are quite devastating for the image of President MackySall.”President MackySall has promised to shed light on this scandal in the management of the Covid-19 pandemic.The Court of Auditors does not seem to leave the choice to the Head of State by recommending the opening of judicial information on many cases of prevarication noted.The situation could have been more embarrassing for President MackySall if his new Prime Minister, Amadou Ba, was among the ministers pinned down for the management of Covid-19 funds.Amadou Ba was Minister of Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad and his department had been allocated some 12.5 billionfrancs in credits from the envelope dedicated to the response to Covid-19.Amadou Ba, no doubt knowing that at the time was the most watched of all, made it a point of honour to return a clean sheet.This attitude, it must be said, did not please many of his collaborators.By Madiambal DIAGNE / mdiagne@lequotidien.sn

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