After seven months of governance, the regime in place has registered new “allies”, in reality “transhumants”, former executives and deputies of the Alliance for the Republic, the party in power until March 2024. “Transhumance”, this A word, borrowed from pastoral language, designates the migration of herds in search of places more favorable for their feeding. Like every new regime, the one in place today, through its president, also Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko, had, when he was an opponent, violently denounced this phenomenon: “I recall the historical position of our party. Pastef remains open to collaborating with all Senegalese people convinced by the project and concerned about its success. On the other hand, it remains closed to any person involved in a scandalous management of a public responsibility or having shown excessive zeal in enmity against the party, its leaders or its members. Then the speech more or less softened: “Let those who want to join us, stay in their base”. Today, in the camp that presides over the destiny of the country, the transhumants are called “allies”. For the most part, these new allies are suspected of wanting to escape justice while others are prohibited from leaving the country.
Has the quest for a majority in the future National Assembly following the early legislative elections of November 17 caused those responsible for the new regime to lose the values of ethics and morality in politics always advocated, which had found a favorable response and who had a lot to do with their rise to power? This question makes perfect sense in view of the wave of rallies and support from dignitaries of the former regime of President Macky Sall to the Pastef party. Indeed, since the start of the electoral process with a view to these first anticipated legislative elections in the political history of Senegal, not a single week, if not a day, has passed without any declarations of rallying or support being recorded. former officials of the fallen Benno coalition regime bokk yakaar.
The latest is the support for the Pastef list announced yesterday, Thursday, November 7, from the former vice-president of the Benno bokk yakaar parliamentary group, Adji Mergane Kanouté and her party, the Union for the Development of Authentic Senegal (UDS /A) which she directs. Very critical of those responsible for Pastef, Adji Mergane Kanouté, who is in 24th position on the national list of the Takku Wallu coalition (which brings together the Pds and the Apr) defended the motion of censure which was brandished against the government of Ousmane Sonko, Prime Minister whom the National Assembly was waiting to make its General Policy Declaration which was scheduled for September 13, 2024. The opportunity did not present itself, since the National Assembly was dissolved the day before.
Ousmane Sonko, a 360-degree turnaround
Behind this vast movement of transhumance of dignitaries of the old regime hides the shadow of the Prime Minister and president of Pastef, Ousmane Sonko. Indeed, among the leaders of the former ruling party, the Alliance for the Republic (Apr) who announced what they modestly call their support or their rallying to Pastef, using the pretext of the current legislative campaign anticipated, some were directly received and “welcomed” Ousmane Sonko himself and others by his duly mandated emissaries. And among these new supporters or members, we can cite, among others, the president of the Kolda Debout movement, Doura Baldé. Mr. Baldé, who was originally an executive of Pastef when this party was in opposition, had joined the former President of the Republic Macky Sall who had appointed him to the management of Lonase, the national games company. On the eve of the launch of the campaign, Doura Baldé announced his support for his former party and Ousmane Sonko and has been campaigning for them ever since. In the same wake, 14 mayors of the Mbacké department, including Gallo Ba, former Minister of the Civil Service and mayor of the commune of Mbacké, joined Pastef. To these we can add those who were welcomed by comrades of the leader of Pastef including the current interim Secretary General of Pastef, Ayib Daffé. These are the mayor of the commune of Tambacounda, Pape Banda Dieye, and the former Minister of Justice, Malick Sall. The list is far from exhaustive.
What can we say about the Déthié Fall du Prp case? Third on the Samm sa kaddu list (an opposition coalition of which he is even the originator of the name), he decided in the middle of the electoral campaign to support the Pastef list. An attitude which not only disconcerted his coalition companions including Barthélémy Dias, Bougane Guèye Dany and Thierno Bacoum but also many Senegalese citizens who wondered what the value of the word given was (Samm sa kaddu literally).
The future of accountability in question
This wave of rallying of officials of the old regime that we are witnessing in recent days raises questions.
Whether we say it or not, some fear that this shift 360 degrees of Ousmane Sonko on this phenomenon of transhumance which he had always denounced when he was still in opposition does not have a negative impact on the realization of the promise of reissuing the accounts made by him and the current head of state during the election campaign. And for good reason, among the transhumants, some are subject to the ban on leaving the national territory taken by the new authorities. This is the case of the mayor of Nabadji Civol, Abdoulaye Sally Sall.
Today, we wonder what will happen next to the accusations weighing on the heads of all these people who decided to join the ruling camp in place after the legislative elections? Will President Diomaye and his Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko let “justice do its work” within the framework of the policy of reissuing accounts or will they choose to put their files “under control”? While waiting for time to edify us, on the side of the Apr, today in opposition, we already seem to draw the conclusion from this situation. In a press release made public on October 26, the National Executive Secretariat (SEN) of the Apr denounced this bloodletting of its activists. Better still, he accuses Pastef of having “orchestrated a process of destabilization” by initiating legal cases against its officials and elected officials in order to push them to transhume.
NANDO CABRAL GOMIS
