In Senegal, a “modernized” National Assembly is hosting a budgetary orientation debate on Saturday June 29 while several of its members are demanding the General Policy Declaration (DPG) from Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko.
The Senegalese National Assembly has a new look. The renovation work, which began on May 17, 2023 with the “support” of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), “has ended,” the Senegalese parliament said in a note sent to APA on Friday, June 28.
He emphasizes that this completed project aimed to modernize the means of communication of “the National Assembly of Senegal with the public”.
The work, carried out by “two Senegalese companies”, concerned four levels. In addition to the reconfiguration of the interior architecture for better distribution of space, latest generation audio and video communication equipment ensuring the digitalization of speaking, voting and vote counting procedures was installed. New modern interpretation booths have been fitted out, not to mention the deployment of new digital platforms.
“These major advances are the result of the desire of President Amadou Mame Diop, since his installation at the head of the National Assembly of Senegal, to modernize the working environment of deputies and to allow better public access to information relating to the organization and parliamentary work,” the press release stressed.
The modernization of the Senegalese parliament took place in a context of intense controversy between the deputies of the government and the opposition on whether or not to hold the general policy statement (DPG) of the new Prime Minister. Nearly three months after his appointment, Ousmane Sonko has still not done so as is customary within 90 days following the installation of the head of government in Senegal.
Political maneuver
Speaking to the press on Wednesday, June 26, the deputies of Yewwi Askan Wi (YAW, liberate the people, in power) indicated that Sonko could not technically make a DPG because the internal regulations of the National Assembly did not mention it.
“The hearing of the Prime Minister is impossible since it does not appear in the internal regulations of the National Assembly,” declared Ayib Daffé, new president of the YAW parliamentary group, however in the minority in the National Assembly against Benno Bokk Yakaar (BBY, united for the same hope) close to ex-president Macky Sall (2012-2024).
He underlines that the provisions of articles 97, 98 and 99 and chapters 22, 23 and 24 must first be restored after the abolition of the post of Prime Minister by the former head of state following his re-election in 2019 Macky Sall also returned to this measure in 2021, when the deputies seemed to have forgotten to put back the previously withdrawn parliamentary provisions.
However, some opponents indicate that the posture of the YAW deputies is only a maneuver intended to “rescue” Ousmane Sonko, in particular to prevent him from facing the deputies of the fourteenth legislature composed mainly of members of the former coalition in the power, BBY. For them, the Prime Minister would especially like to avoid a motion of censure which would lead to his resignation and that of his government.
BBY deputies also promise to respond to their YAW colleagues during a press briefing scheduled for this Friday afternoon in Dakar. The debates are likely to be more tense since parliamentarians will meet tomorrow Saturday at the Assembly for a plenary session on the Budget Orientation Debate (DOB), in the presence of the Minister of Finance and Budget, Cheikh Diba.
Dissolution
Ousmane Sonko has not yet commented on the ongoing controversy even though he had recently asked the various ministers of his government to prepare, with their technical services, the terms of reference which should feed into his DPG, which he promised to held “as soon as possible”.
On the other hand, close associates, such as former Prime Minister Aminata Touré, advise Sonko not to run for an “unpopular” legislature following BBY’s loss of power in the last presidential election, held on March 24, 2024, which saw the victory in the first round of opponent Bassirou Diomaye Faye, chosen by Ousmane Sonko as the Pastef party’s substitute candidate.
Ms. Touré recommends that the leader of this party, who has become Prime Minister of President Faye who has a “pan-Africanist” and “sovereignist” vision, wait for the dissolution of parliament, which constitutionally can take place after July 31, that is, after two years of the 14th legislature. He will therefore be able to run before new deputies who will be chosen at the end of legislative elections organized no later than 90 days after the dissolution of parliament, she maintains.
ODL/te/APA
