Only six months in office, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has announced the dissolution of the National Assembly and called for elections on November 17. Swept into power based on his vision for radical transformations of the political system and promises of more sovereignty, the 44-year-old head of state believes lawmakers from his party can win a majority in the legislature.
On Thursday, Faye said, “I dissolve the national assembly to ask the sovereign people for the institutional means to bring about the systemic transformation that I have promised to deliver”. He called for support and asked voters to mandate his party to carry out governmental changes.
The Benno Bokk Yaakar opposition movement, led by former President Macky Sall, condemned Faye’s decision to dissolve Senegal’s National Assembly. He claimed Faye had convened a legislative session under false pretences then proceeded to dissolve the governmental body. Faye was also accused by his political rivals of “perjury.”
Faye, the youngest elected president on the African continent, came to power in March, less than two weeks after he was released from prison. During the presidential campaign, he promised widespread reforms to improve the living standards of the Senegalese people, including fighting corruption, reviewing fishing permits for foreign companies, and securing a bigger share of the country’s natural resources for the state and the population.
Faye also suggested in his election campaign that he favoured Senegal’s withdrawal from the CFA franc, a controversial currency created in 1945 by former colonial power France and still used by several West African countries. The CFA is recognised as tool for economic control over previously colonised African states, which allows France to keeps an economic stranglehold on them.
With minimal if any progress made during Faye’s brief six month’s presidency, the question becomes: What will come next? Will he finally deliver on his promise?
1 Comment
when it is your people, not just your country, and all, everyone even the youngest baby is you then and only then can you take yourself forward into history. I hope he can look at ecowas and see it for what it’s leadership is, and take his time and resources to leave that ragged and unnecessary marionette.