After Ousmane Sonko’s statement on the provisions of the National Assembly’s internal regulations that set the deadlines and procedure for the Senegalese policy statement (DPG), the National Assembly finally hid its budget orientation debate that was to be held this Saturday. A meeting convened by the office of the Assembly decided by its majority to postpone this republican activity before the Minister of Finance. For the office of the National Assembly, “this decision comes after Ousmane Sonko demonstrated his indifference to the National Assembly by expressing through his note, his desire, if there are breaches of the provisions relating to the post of Prime Minister that had been abolished, “to hold his General Policy Statement before an assembly made up of the sovereign Senegalese people, partners of Senegal and a jury composed of academics, intellectuals and apolitical citizen actors. This will be an opportunity, according to Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, for a free, open debate and, for sure, of a much higher quality.
Thus, this “parliamentary war” is fueled by this general policy statement that seems to be animated around political considerations. This is also the opinion of electoral expert Ndiaga Sylla who believes that “this debate has, in many respects, political contours. “Beyond the deficiency of the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly (RIAN), the controversy surrounding the General Policy Statement (DPG) is more political than legal” argued Mr. Sylla, mentioning in the process that this DPG is aroused by a difficult “cohabitation”. Faced with the configuration of the National Assembly. Who to save the deputies? How to restore parliamentary order? Already, it is the reintegration of the provisions which, beyond the intervention of Ousmane Sonko, other members of civil society, notably Alioune Tine and Babacar Ba of the forum of the justiciable, have called upon the National Assembly to review the appropriate provisions relating to the internal regulations: “it would be desirable for the parliamentary majority to take, without delay and with the valuable assistance of all the deputies, the initiative to update the internal regulations to allow the Prime Minister to make his General Policy Declaration in all legality, in accordance with article 55 of the Constitution” proposes Babacar Ba.
A dead end that could be avoided? Should the budgetary orientation debate be postponed even if the office of the National Assembly had the possibility of validating this? Shouldn’t we have had the budgetary orientation debate 5 days before the 30th, which is the deadline for closing the ordinary session? Should the president, given his powers, intervene in this situation? The president of the BBY parliamentary group, during Benno’s press briefing, announced this: “we have initiated a reflection on reforms to remove the articles, which allow the President of the Republic to dissolve the National Assembly.” The President of the Republic may, after having obtained the opinion of the Prime Minister and that of the President of the National Assembly, pronounce, by decree, the dissolution of the National Assembly. However, the dissolution cannot take place during the first two legislative years. Which means, and as Ndiaga Sylla explained, “the dissolution of the National Assembly cannot take place before September 13, 2024, under the Constitution, article 87, paragraph 2”.
Under Article 75 of the Constitution, if the President of the Republic does not promulgate within the time limit, the promulgation is by right. The President of the National Assembly can do it in his place. The promulgation period is suspended until the end of the second deliberation of the National Assembly or the decision of the Constitutional Council declaring the law in conformity with the Constitution. For the time being, we are not at this alternative because we can always save the furniture. And this will involve compliance by the actors with the legal and regulatory provisions established with regard to our Constitution, which is the fundamental charter of the country.
