The ruling camp and the opposition camp continue their “Mortal Kombat”. After rejecting the project of President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye to abolish the Cese and the Hcct, the majority deputies yesterday introduced a motion of censure to bring down the government of PM Ousmane Sonko. While the regime in place seeks to end the opposition by dissolving the National Assembly.By Amadou MBODJI –
As promised, the Benno bokk yaakaar (Bby) deputies took action yesterday by submitting a motion of censure to the President of the National Assembly, Amadou Mame Diop, we learned. Speaking during the plenary session the day before yesterday, Abdou Mbow, president of the Bby parliamentary group, announced that as of Tuesday, the motion will be submitted to bring down the government of Ousmane Sonko. The dissolution of Parliament could take place from September 12, which is why, it is said, Benno bokk yaakaar (Bby) wants to register this file in emergency procedure in order to gain political gain. Whereas in the event of a vote on the motion of censure, President Faye could renew the government the next minute. This act that the majority deputies have just taken is evidence of a bitter duel that the two political camps – power and opposition – are engaged in.
Neither side intends to give the other a gift. While the government is trying to complete the victory of March 24 in the presidential election by trying to gain control of the National Assembly, the opposition is trying to resist the government, which is trying to “reduce this” opposition “to its simplest expression”, as if to borrow this expression from former President Macky Sall.
After finding fertile ground in the depths of the political crisis, theorized as it was by those in power in reaction to the “injustice” which, they say, they were subjected to by the outgoing regime which had engaged in a “power struggle” with Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, the “Gatsa-Gatsa” has taken off again, because of this rivalry that the two camps continue to maintain. A rivalry rekindled by the opposition’s rejection of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye’s bill relating to the abolition of two institutions, the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (Cese) and the High Council of Local Authorities (Hcct), deemed budget-consuming by those in power. Needing only 99 votes to validate the text of the Head of State, the deputies of the government were only able to obtain 80 votes against 83 for the parliamentary opposition. The latter voted against the abolition of these two institutions, finding an “inconsistency” in the approach of the executive branch, which the opposition accuses of “lacking republican elegance” by not prioritizing dialogue beforehand, as former outgoing President Macky Sall had to do in the past before abolishing the Senate.
Recalling that dialogue is at the heart of the democratic system, the parliamentarians who rejected this bill recalled that the President of the National Assembly, Amadou Mame Diop, learned, at the same time as the deputies, of the reform on social networks, through the press release of the Presidency of the Republic dated Thursday, August 26, 2024. In this regard, they noted that the bill should be preceded by the holding of the General Policy Statement (Dpg) of the Prime Minister, to outline the major political orientations of the new government. Instead, it is proposed to abolish the Hcct and the Cese, two major institutions that play an important role in the socio-economic life of Senegal.
The two camps do not like each other. The delay by Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko in coming to deliver his General Policy Statement (DPG), after the National Assembly complied with his demand by “updating” the Rules of Procedure of the Chamber, was not to the taste of the opposition deputies. The latter find in the Prime Minister’s refusal, “a distrust and a lack of respect” towards them on the part of the Executive Power, which they accuse of having done nothing to force the Prime Minister to come and appear before them.
Earlier, Cheikh Diba, Minister of Finance and Budget, and his colleagues had left the National Assembly without being able to hold the Budget Orientation Debate (Dob), because the opposition deputies had voted for its cancellation. This reflects the tensions that have existed in recent years between these two camps that have had difficulty getting their act together. The opposition camp did not want to make things easier for the presidential camp, which is trying at all costs to have a free hand in order to carry out its policy.
After having sold “the Project” to the voters, the latter are waiting to see this Project being rolled out.
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