In 2012, faced with the prospect of an electoral defeat that threatened him, Abdoulaye Wade warned that if he lost power, he could not guarantee that salaries could be paid in the following two months. And in fact, as soon as he took office, Macky Sall had to go to France urgently. We learned, following a press release, that French President Sarkozy granted Senegal budgetary aid of nearly 180 million euros to enable, among other things, the payment of salaries.
Another flashback. End of 2023. A few months before the end of his second term, Macky Sall decides to increase salaries in public education, from elementary to higher education. Which represents a large envelope of several billion per year.
At the moment, if we are to believe the announcements made last week by the government, headed by the Prime Minister, the country was already on the verge of bankruptcy. Where did Macky Sall and his ministers find the money to pay all the civil servants every month?
Worse still, or better, these counterfeiters found a way to leave more than 300 billion CFA in the state coffers when they left, as indicated in the press release from the Council of Ministers. Something that the BDF regime has not denied. And to show their strength, it is from their data and their balance sheet that the current regime was able to raise more than 450 billion CFA in Eurobonds, even if to date, we do not yet know their use. , given that the National Assembly did not have time to vote on a supplementary finance law (Lfr) which should integrate this money into this year’s budget.
Speaking of the budget, we have to believe that it will be the fault of this looter Macky Sall if Senegal does not yet know at this moment what budget its State will have next year. A completely new situation since Senghor. The problem is that, due to this situation, the Senegalese do not yet know the political and economic orientations that the new regime wants to impose on the country. Until now, we have been told about economic sovereignty, without giving us its content.
The most tangible action is the questioning of contracts with foreign companies operating in the mining sector. A minister said this was to ensure that the interests of the country were very well protected and that the People took full advantage of what was constitutionally theirs. We must take note of this desire, and hope that actions do not turn into Berezina for the country. This calling into question the signed contracts and the State’s commitments could possibly make foreign companies which have agreed to invest several billion CFA in the oil “adventure” more cautious, encouraging them to withhold their financing until further details. information. Let us hope that their review of these contracts is done with more seriousness than what they had devoted to denouncing the management of Senegalese oil and gas. People have not forgotten that the current Prime Minister, then in opposition, had written two works to denounce the mismanagement and lack of transparency of Macky Sall’s power in the management of Senegalese oil. In his statements, he and another politician, also an eminent graduate of the Ecole des Mines in France, went so far as to assert, with all the seriousness of their rank, that foreign boats came to prowl around at night oil platforms from Senegal to load Senegalese oil which they were going to sell in Europe.
That was almost 5 years before the Woodside company announced the release of its first barrel, thus silencing the deadly rumors.
But it is time to go beyond the figures and the debates of public finance specialists. Today that the Prime Minister and his government announce to us, before the Court of Auditors, that all the calculations on which the figures of our economic performance are based are falsified, we are impatient to know how they will redress the situation. However, we can estimate, before the announced publication of the famous “Project” next week, that they should not have many problems if they stick to their declarations before coming to power. Did they not base their postulate on an economy of self-production? President Faye had even declared that he wanted to relaunch an import substitution industry. This is probably why the deterioration of Senegal’s rating does not bother them too much. Nor should they be particularly shocked to see foreign subsidiaries leaving the country. The problem is finding local champions who would take their place. Or even better, who will invest in even more advanced sectors than those occupied by foreign operators. A very good idea, but which can only be judged during its implementation.
In this area too, one of the lessons to be learned is that a shoemaker cannot transform himself into a leatherworker overnight. Nor can a linen merchant become a car manufacturer in a fortnight. If we want to promote companies based on the political coloring of their leaders, we will lead the country towards a resounding failure. However, Senegal has no time to waste on trial and error. The promotion of national champions is something very important and cannot be based on the affinities that leaders have with certain so-called “captains of industries”. Everyone knows that in Senegal, there are not really many of them.
The government has had time, since taking office, to realize that the declarations before the elections do not allow it to preserve or nourish political popularity. Senegalese youth in particular suffer from a malaise that is no longer satisfied with intentions. The army of unemployed people knocking on its doors is not going to watch for much longer as friends share the state cake with rascals whose merit is to have been among the noisiest during the crossing of the desert. The time has passed when we could blame all the faults on the old team with impunity and think we could exonerate ourselves from any fault.
The Prime Minister thought it was enough for him to claim to have found doctored data to gain months of patience and indulgence for his team. He only forgot that if he was elected, as well as his president, it was for having said that they had a “project already all put together” and which was only awaiting its implementation. Comparison not being right, we could nevertheless remind President Diomaye Faye that Macky Sall had to, almost as soon as he came to power, wade into the waters at Sicap Foire or Nord Foire, and in the Catchment Zone, and resolve the problem . He did not discard by claiming that it was not “his wintering”. And even afterwards, he did not complain that saboteurs were attacking evacuation works, such as in Keur Massar, for political reasons.
The same goes for basic necessities, rent or electricity rates. Far from wanting to advocate the governance of Macky Sall, we can affirm that the first measures of his governance, even marked by populism, were very effective, and the entire population adhered to them, with the notable difference of building owners, which is completely understandable. Currently, you only need to take a trip to the country’s markets to wonder by what miracle some of our compatriots manage to survive. Likewise, with this return to school which is not that of Benno or Apr, how do parents of large families manage to satisfy the needs of their children?
Before trying to convince the Senegalese that they and their team hold the keys to the development of this country, the leaders of this country should first, and urgently, look at their fellow citizens. The promises they are preparing to make during this election campaign should be implemented as quickly as possible
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