I refuse to believe that Macky Sall wanted to keep the power”

President Macky Sall indicates that the electoral calendar will be rigorously respected and that the first round of the presidential election will take place normally on February 25, 2024. He had confided this privately to relatives and high religious authorities, who were becoming sceptical as to the government’s intention to respect the said timetable. It must be admitted that we did not fail to be shocked by the sarcastic remark of a religious leader, who wondered if we could still believe the assurances given by the President of the Republic on this question. But Macky Sall was forced to say it again in public, on January 26, 2024, on the occasion of the annual Ziarra of the Omarian family. We can take his word for it, because his posture and status should not authorize him to act otherwise. Also, any other step on his part would be tantamount to destroying with his own hands everything he has built during his magisterium and truly, he would pale in front of the work of his predecessors. Indeed, he inherited a Senegal with functioning democratic institutions and a stability that all of Africa envies. The least we would expect of him is that he would transfer power to a successor, under the same conditions of peace and republican and democratic legality.

Karim Wade lights a fire that won’t burn him

The decision of the Constitutional Council rejecting the candidacy of Karim Meïssa Wade in the presidential election pushed the Senegalese Democratic Party (Pds) and its charismatic and historic leader, Abdoulaye Wade, to replay the only music they know how to play, which is that is to say that of attacks, accusations, invectives and threats against the institutions of the Republic and particularly the magistrates. Opponents, Abdoulaye Wade and his comrades cornered members of the Constitutional Council until its president, Kéba Mbaye, resigned in the middle of the electoral process. Its vice-president, Babacar Sèye, was the victim of the killer bullets of the Amadou Clédor Sène gang. Abdoulaye Wade, who became President of the Republic, hastened to release them and then have an amnesty law adopted to erase their crime. This same gang had riddled with bullets the home of judge Youssoupha Ndiaye, who had replaced Kéba Mbaye.  

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Throughout his magisterium, President Abdoulaye Wade has never stopped attacking the Constitutional Council and its members, whom he appointed, each time they had the presumption to move away from his wishes. By seeking to cast shame on the Constitutional Council, the dissolution of which is demanded by his party, with the consequence which will inevitably be a brutal halt to the electoral process, Karim Wade speaks of the rope in the hang man’s house. He certainly looks like someone, but it must be said that he plays a role that is far too easy. Indeed, nothing untoward will happen to him if fire breaks out in Senegal due to his initiative. Senegalese people could die, the country could be in flames and blood, but the flood would not catch up with him in golden exile in Doha.

Those who accuses Macky Sall

A group of failed candidates had requested the postponement of the presidential election and issued a heretical missive addressed to the head of state asking him to intervene in the electoral process. Against all expectations, President Sall received them, possibly giving the impression of his illegal intrusion into the responsibilities of the Constitutional Council. The hearing was short and in a press release, the Presidency of the Republic insisted on reaffirming respect for the electoral calendar and the role, sovereign powers of the Constitutional Council. Appearances were kept. Abdoulaye Wade, who always places his son Karim above everything and everyone, requested the dissolution of the Constitutional Council which dared to refuse the candidacy of his heir. This call was inaudible. But the Pds outdid itself by submitting a request to the National Assembly on January 24, 2024, for the establishment of a parliamentary commission of inquiry into alleged acts of corruption at the Constitutional Council. The Pds is yet to say who corrupted whom and how, but makes it known everywhere that it has overwhelming evidence. In a procedure of dizzying speed, the National Assembly every day poses an action with incredible speed.

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The institution’s Bureau was urgently convened on Thursday January 25, 2024 to follow up on the request for the establishment of the Commission of Inquiry. The Conference of Presidents met on January 26, 2024 to play its part by placing this request on the agenda of the Law Commission and inviting it to meet on the first following working day, namely Monday January 29, 2024. Members understood that the matter will be included on the agenda of the plenary session scheduled for Tuesday January 30, 2024 for its adoption. The Office of the National Assembly, even less the Conference of Presidents, is yet to see the famous evidence. A few hand-picked journalists were asked to listen to a few sound extracts from conversations or to read excerpts from email exchanges. Quite light, you might say, although the propensity which has taken place in Senegal, in recent years, to publicly violate the intimacy and private lives of people on social networks, is not yet applicable in the present case.. We can well assume that if irrefutable evidence existed, it would already be in the public square to fuel discussions in the cottages. The political class is yet to accustom us to such restraint and modesty!

What would the Constitutional Council be guilty of? For having strictly spoken the law in the Karim Wade case. That is to say, to refuse to allow a candidate who has made a false declaration in his file to return to regularize his application with a document subsequently justifying a state or situation. The Constitutional Council could also have asked the Prosecutor’s Office to open criminal proceedings as it had to do with another candidate who had presented a false list of deputies in his sponsorship file.

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The presidential party, the Alliance for the Republic (Apr), released a press release to associate itself with the Pds initiative. The crime is signed. However, no political calculation should authorize such an act. For the first time, the parliamentary majority of Macky Sall’s camp officially allies with the Pds, and to what end? An action, a sort of collusion, intended to discredit the Constitutional Council, an institution of the Republic, and taint the honorability of its members who were all appointed by Macky Sall himself. Sacrilege! It appears surreal that the political regime which had Karim Wade condemned for misappropriation of public resources and overwhelmed him to the point of pushing him into exile, wakes up one fine morning, without the slightest explanation or repentance or contrition, to ‘absolve everything and seek to make a pact with him. Can we imagine that the magistrates will not unite around their colleagues? He will have on his hands a heavy dispute that no head of state has ever had with the Judiciary of his country.

Will they dare to cross the Rubicon to use article 52 of the Constitution and give exceptional powers to the President of the Republic?

Could this all be part of a plan hatched to keep Macky Sall in power? If necessary, remaining in power without any legal basis, at the end of one’s constitutional mandate, would amount to an institutional coup d’état. I don’t see Macky Sall embarking on such a dangerous path for himself and for the Nation. It would create the conditions favouring serious political unrest. We know that he is so proud and has high self-esteem to end up like some of his African peers. He also explained that he kept so much to his word, to the point of giving up on a perfectly legal candidacy for the 2024 Presidential election. Frankly, he cannot give up a legal possibility to risk taking side roads and be accused of being a common putschist. Macky Sall also knows that his courtiers who urge him, in full view of everyone, to keep power, do not like him so much for having already insulted him publicly when they were in disgrace or in disagreement with him. In such a scenario, Macky Sall will be the only loser and will compromise his entire aura and the bright future that opens up before him upon his departure from power. He’s smart enough not to get caught up in such madness.

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Moreover, the accusation against judges of the Constitutional Council could push them to resign, but if necessary, the institution would no less continue to deliberate validly, although the President of the Republic would have the latitude to appoint, at the moment who will follow, judges to replace them. For my part, I implore these judges to remain stoic and to remain at their posts so as not to play into the hands of their slayers. They should therefore refuse to respond to possible summons from this parliamentary commission of inquiry. The conspirators will be able to expect nothing from this Commission of Inquiry other than to throw magistrates out to pasture. How talkative these conspirators are! This is how we know that they intend to create, by this means, an artificial conflict between the Constitutional Council and the National Assembly. But we forget that it is up to the Constitutional Council to judge conflicts between the executive power and the legislative power. In other words, the Constitutional Council cannot be in conflict with any other power. The institution would continue to royally ignore the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry which would violate the sacrosanct principle of the separation of powers. We should not move quickly either, because we cannot prejudge the final vote. Who could be assured that all of Benno bokk yaaakar’s (Bby) MPs will vote blindly with the Pds? What will be the attitude of opposition MPs like those of the former Pastef, Pur, Taxawu Senegaal or non-registered deputies? And the most absurd thing is that the Pds request is made by members of the Apr, who are well known enough to demonstrate open hostility towards Prime Minister Amadou Ba, candidate nominated by Macky Sall. We also know that they will be happy to give him a tough time, seeking to humiliate him and accuse him of having corrupted the magistrates. The Prime Minister will be the first client to be heard by the Commission of Inquiry. In his place, I would not respond to their summons, because the National Assembly does not have the competence to investigate criminal acts falling exclusively within the jurisdiction of the judiciary. In his capacity as Prime Minister, he must not participate in undermining the foundations of the rule of law and the separation of powers.

Are the candidates Khalifa Sall, Idrissa Seck, Mohammed Dionne and others remaining silent because the operation could weaken Amadou Ba?

The establishment of the Commission of Inquiry cannot certainly be a sufficient act to invoke the blocking of institutions or a situation which should authorize the use of Article 52 of the Constitution, to give full powers to the President of the Republic. The text of the Constitution of Senegal reads: “When the institutions of the Republic, the independence of the Nation, the integrity of the national territory or the execution of international commitments are threatened in a serious and immediate manner, and the regular functioning of public authorities or institutions is interrupted, the President of the Republic has exceptional powers. He may, after having informed the Nation by a message, take any measure tending to restore the regular functioning of public authorities and institutions, and to ensure the safeguard of the Nation (…).” Will “full powers” authorize the postponement of the presidential election or the dissolution of the Constitutional Council and the creation of an exceptional situation over a year for example, as the PDS has already specifically indicated? We experienced the spiral of postponement of elections in Ivory Coast where, through repeated postponements, from one year to another, President Gbagbo had obtained “a gift mandate”. However, we sadly know how the story ended.

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We can never highlight enough the game of sorcerers’ apprentices sitting on powder barrels and having fun with fire. Where can all this lead? At the burning of the Constitutional Council as was the case with the Reichstag in Germany? It is the responsibility of President Macky Sall to put an end to these serious dangers facing the Nation. He has the means, he will simply need to speak clearly, without any ambiguity, to his camp, to say that he cannot endorse practices that are at odds with legality.  Abdoulaye Wade was unable to succeed in 2012 to keep power through the offer of a two-year respite advocated by former Nigerian President Olesegun Obassanjo and the “human rightist” Alioune Tine. Precisely, this could not be done because Macky Sall was fiercely opposed to it. (See our column of January 22, 2024).

Can Macky Sall prefer Karim Wade to Amadou Ba?

The question remains: will Macky Sall live up to his constitutional role, that of guarantor of institutions? He is committed to preserving civil peace and republican order, and to returning power following a democratic and transparent election. If he excluded himself, of his own free will, from the electoral competition, against the advice of many of those close to him, we cannot believe him possessed by some demon to try to wring the neck of illegality and thus risk splashing out in an attempt to give power to another.

Once again, I don’t think he’s so deceiving in showing himself capable of such a crime. I also know that he cannot prefer Karim Wade to Amadou Ba.

So, I stay in Abidjan to encourage the national football team, engaged in the African Cup of Nations, and still have reasons to always be proud of my beautiful country, Senegal.