By resolution 79/230 of its 79th General Assembly, the UN announced the removal of Senegal from the list of Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The culmination of a long process, which required several evaluation reports; in 2018, in 2021 and in March 2024. So, during the upheavals and agitations of the political agenda, senior officials that an ignorant person calls “the system”, worked seriously for the State and in the name of the interest general. In its resolution, the UN Ag announces that the Economic and Social Council has subscribed to the recommendation of the Committee for Development Policy to remove Senegal from the category of least developed countries.
In easy French, Senegal has made giant leaps economically.
We are far from the boasting of the new upstarts who saw only ruin and desolation as the results of a “system” which escapes their intellectual vacuity.
The document also informs us “that a five-year preparatory period was necessary for all countries recommended for graduation during the 2024 triennial review, so that they could prepare effectively for a smooth transition.”
A five-year period thus begins to definitively mark Senegal’s transition from a poor country to a middle-income country. Finally, the UN declares that “for a country, the fact of being removed from the category of least developed countries is a momentous event, which means that it has made good progress towards achieving at least part of its development objectives”.
This great news especially celebrates the good performance of a State over the last twelve years.
There was first the development and implementation of a vision around the structural transformation of the economy, with a united society in a State of Law, driving force of the Pse
Above all, there was the vision of a statesman, who embodied leadership and relied on the excellent human resources of the Senegalese administration to build a social project whose aim was the radical transformation of the face of Senegal.
Around a vision of progress, twenty-seven projects and seventeen reforms, and the highlighting of six sectoral battles to be won, the results are tangible, to the point that criticism is easy, because it is pithy and low-cost, aimed rather at “the intangible balance sheet”, an antiphon repeated by small-scale pundits to basically say nothing.
President Wade, with whom I was not in phase, was right to call the Senegalese to work. It is through continuous effort, far from the noise and excesses of adults who live on the internet and the intriguers of cozy seaside lounges that we transform our country. A leader does not get stuck in grocers’ quarrels and bickering over the gender of angels; he does not spend most of his time insulting his opponents and threatening to send them to “rot in prison.” He should show less confidence in invective than in the expression of a serious vision, which surpasses the time of his mandates. Holding a broomstick to skim sandy alleys cannot be the unsurpassable horizon of politics. To lend oneself to it in a curiously ostentatious manner, in an enjoyable constancy which borders on idleness, raises questions: it is to admit one’s incomprehensible lack of culture, one’s heartbreaking ignorance of our History, one’s unforgivable incompetence in understanding this Nation whose responsibility is to be at the forefront of changes in the world.
This removal of Senegal from the list of LDCs is certainly excellent news. Nevertheless worrying, if we consider our context. It now remains to continue the work during the probationary period to definitively position our country on the ramp to emergence. Furthermore, the UN decision calls for three readings for my part
First of all, it is the positive sanction of a policy implemented for twelve years, with boldness and courage to transform the structure of our economy, to move away from the miserabilist mantra of poverty reduction and towards an ambition of economic take-off in social inclusion and solidarity.
My second reading concerns the choice to remain within a democratic framework which enshrines the plurality of opinions. It is now common to read from intellectuals and some various writers that democracy is not conducive to economic progress.
Often, the Rwandan model is agitated by obscuring many parameters and, above all, by trivializing the hell of authoritarianism for those who experience it. This false truth which fuels all the excesses and coups d’état in the Sahel has a serious responsibility for the state of our countries.
Intellectuals, with total irresponsibility, celebrate putsches in the name of illiberalism or worse, anti-France. Senegal is progressing while maintaining an imperfect but solid democratic framework. To convince yourself of the relevance of our choice, we must take a look at the Russian servants of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger… Senegal has managed to avoid the perilous path taken by our Sahelian neighbors. It further confirms that private investment, the engine of growth, needs political stability and legal security. Senegal offers both aspects, in accordance with the choice made for democracy, which cannot tolerate insurrection as a means of seizing power.
Finally, my last thought goes to the theorists of a “ruined state”. Those who had the delicacy not to celebrate the first barrel of oil or the first cubic meter of gas, even less the commissioning of the Brt. The same people who warned the world about the manipulation of public accounts by their own administration see their rhetoric contradicted every day by the facts. But like Sisyphus, they never tire of trying to sully our country. Do they love him deep down?
Latest proof to date, the astonishing press release from the minister who could be said to be foreign to the affairs of her Department. She considers the press release bringing the good news from the UN as “allegations”, in an attempt to discredit her country and deny its economic progress. Who imagines the Cambodian government issuing a press release to contradict the UN and deny an economic advance recognized by the only organization in the world with a universal vocation? They will have spared us nothing, and this is only the beginning… As the silky British say: “The show must go on.”
Post-Script : I have a thought for Mamadou Moustapha Bâ, who served our country with talent, commitment and loyalty. This immense servant of the Senegalese state would have deserved to learn this good news. With his collaborators, he managed our public accounts with a dexterity that built a resilient and now conquering Senegalese economy post-Covid-19.
