After 12 years in energy, Senegal’s Macky Sall leaves a fragile democracy | Elections

Dakar, Senegal – A 12 months after his 2012 inauguration as Senegal’s fourth president, Macky Sall delivered a compelling speech – half in French, half in English – at Harvard College in the USA.

Sall had received the presidency after a cut-throat election marketing campaign in opposition to his mentor and former President Abdoulaye Wade, underneath whose wing he had served as minister, prime minister, head of the Nationwide Meeting and whilst Wade’s personal marketing campaign director.

Talking on the fourth Harvard African Growth Convention, Sall advised a captivated viewers about democracy and improvement challenges in Africa and the necessity to “lay down the weapons” and to give attention to what unites somewhat than divides Africans.

“Democratic change in Africa, like in every single place, isn’t a simple train,” he stated in his keynote deal with.

“The best of … democracy can keep fragile after years of apply,” he warned.

Greater than decade after his inspirational phrases at Harvard, questions are being requested concerning the energy and resilience of Senegal’s democracy as Sall’s 12-year-long tenure attracts to an in depth on April 2 and presidential elections are scheduled for this weekend.

Sall promised a brand new period of fine governance in Senegal together with his 2012 presidential victory. He stated he would deal with the consolidation of energy within the presidency by fostering a extra democratic system whereas additionally tackling problems with social justice and fairness.

Central to his marketing campaign was a dedication to scale back presidential phrases from seven to 5 years, reversing a rise that Wade had carried out. Wade had additionally threatened to run for a 3rd – and unconstitutional – time period in workplace.

So historical past gave the impression to be repeating itself just lately when Sall seemed to be contemplating a bid for a 3rd time period after suspending the presidential election that was as a consequence of be held final month, sparking protests all through the nation.

After the Constitutional Courtroom intervened, the presidential election is now set for Sunday.

Growth for all or riches for a couple of?

Different controversies surrounding Sall’s presidency – together with monetary scandals, a crackdown on civil liberties and a faltering economic system – have additionally overshadowed his legacy and his contribution to Senegal’s improvement, analysts stated.

“Macky Sall’s aim was a ‘Senegal for All’,” stated Seydina Mouhamadou Ndiaye, a civil society chief and co-founder of the Collectif des Volontaires du Senegal (Volunteer Collective of Senegal, or CODEVS).

“He understood that Senegal isn’t just Dakar and contributed to the event exterior the capital,” he defined.

Earlier than Sall’s presidency, main infrastructure and improvement tasks had been targeted on the capital, however he prolonged such tasks to rural areas, Ndiaye stated.

Sall’s dedication to infrastructure improvement concerned tasks equivalent to a brand new railway connecting the Dakar metropolitan space and creating the nation’s freeway system. He secured $7.5bn in funding for an formidable financial improvement plan referred to as Emergent Senegal, which was designed to rework the economic system by 2035 by means of investments in agriculture, infrastructure and tourism.

Whereas new street infrastructure considerably improved journey and transport, Sall’s authorities additionally targeted on lowering energy cuts and connecting distant villages to the ability grid whereas additionally enhancing their entry to healthcare.

Sall superior nationwide improvement, however on the similar time, there was intense politicisation of the administration of state funds and the financing of political events, Ndiaye added.

With incumbent political events targeted on accessing public funds and appointing people to positions based mostly on get together affiliation somewhat than competence, improvement tasks suffered as some officers had been extra targeted on private achieve than good governance, Ndiaye stated.

There have been scandals too.

In 2019, a BBC investigation revealed that an organization owned by Aliou Sall, the president’s brother, acquired a secret $250,000 cost in 2014 from a businessman who had obtained licences for 2 vital offshore fuel blocks that very same 12 months.

Sall denied any consciousness of the transaction involving his brother.

Civil society organisations and many voters have additionally criticised the federal government for failing to place in place mechanisms to make sure that the wealth generated within the nation’s fuel and oil sector reaches its individuals. Based on nationwide forecasts, export revenues are to surpass $1.5bn by 2025, however the oil and fuel tasks have been delayed for nearly a 12 months now.

Controversy additionally surrounded Sall’s administration of COVID-19 funds amid allegations of doable mismanagement and embezzlement highlighted by Senegal’s Courtroom of Auditors.

Second time period: Crackdown on civil liberties

Sall’s second time period as president after his re-election in 2019 confronted challenges on the home entrance, notably with the rise of opposition chief Ousmane Sonko.

As a former tax inspector and mayor of Zinguichor, the capital of Senegal’s restive southern area of Casamance, Sonko gained recognition as a politician standing in opposition to the system and keen to problem Sall’s relationship with former colonial energy France and with overseas corporations working in extractive industries.

Protests erupted in 2021 after Sonko’s arrest on a rape accusation, and extra riots adopted when he was accused of libel in opposition to a minister in 2023, a cost that subsequently noticed him barred from working within the presidential election. Sonko’s supporters have accused the president of hatching a political plot to forestall Sonko from standing in elections.

Among the many a whole bunch of 1000’s who protested in opposition to Sonko’s arrest, many had been younger individuals dissatisfied with excessive unemployment and the rising value of dwelling.

Anger among the many protesters was compounded by the truth that Sall took his time to make clear whether or not he meant to run for a 3rd time period as president – which might have been unconstitutional.

He ultimately introduced in July that he wouldn’t run once more, and the dimensions of the protests dwindled regardless of Sonko’s detention. At the least 60 individuals have been killed in protest violence since 2021, and a whole bunch of political activists have been jailed and tortured by safety forces.

Sall responded by recruiting 1000’s of recent officers into the ranks of Senegal’s militarised gendarmerie – a transfer seen by some members of the general public as preparation for violent crackdowns on pro-democracy protests amid considerations that he would possibly try and run for a 3rd time period.

“Stopping opposition politicians from collaborating in elections has contributed to the fissure of Senegal’s democratic file,” stated Alexandre Gubert Lette, a civil society chief and govt director of the Teranga Lab, a neighborhood engagement organisation specializing in civic responsibility and the setting.

“It’s a stain on his legacy,” he advised Al Jazeera.

Alongside Sonko, Bassirou Diomaye Faye was additionally detained final 12 months and held in jail. Faye is Sonko’s political ally and presidential candidate for his get together.

Each Sonko and Faye had been launched from jail on Thursday, and regardless of his time behind bars, Faye is among the many favourites of the 19 candidates standing within the presidential election.

Sall has additionally confronted accusations of attempting to suppress the media.

In 2022, investigative journalist Pape Ale Niang was arrested and confronted prison expenses after reporting on the federal government’s investigation of Sonko, and Walf TV, a broadcaster that aired vital protection of Sall, was shut down.

Such occasions and different circumstances of media intimidation and suppression noticed Senegal drop 55 locations – from 49 to 104 – from 2022 to 2023 on the World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters With out Borders.

Elections delayed, democracy denied

Whereas Senegal was spared the flurry of navy coups which have rattled West African nations since 2020, Sall was accused of attempting to engineer a constitutional coup d’etat after he postponed the presidential election from February to December.

Sall stated the delay was obligatory to research allegations of corruption amongst aspiring presidential candidates.

The Constitutional Courtroom dominated, nonetheless, that it was not authorized to postpone the vote, and the federal government scheduled it for this month.

Extra just lately, Sall submitted a draft regulation to parliament permitting for a basic amnesty for acts associated to political unrest from 2021 to 2024 – a interval that features the violence and chaos brought on by his postponement of elections.

Sall stated the amnesty was essential to deliver reconciliation to the nation.

The laws, nonetheless, absolves all these concerned within the political strife, together with himself, of any prison legal responsibility, a transfer that Human Rights Watch and Amnesty Worldwide stated opens the door to “impunity” for these concerned within the violent repression of protests.

Oumar Sow, one in all Sall’s presidential advisers who has been by his facet since 2012, advised Al Jazeera that delaying the election was a extreme blow to Senegalese democracy.

“We have to discuss reality earlier than we discuss reconciliation,” Sow stated of the amnesty.

After 12 years in energy, Sall leaves Senegal with the problem of youth unemployment, which is a urgent challenge for the nation’s quickly increasing inhabitants, and a sense among the many public that the economic system has been badly managed.

In a rustic the place greater than 60 p.c of the inhabitants is underneath 25, the variety of younger Senegalese not engaged in employment, training or coaching reached nearly 35 p.c in 2019, based on the Worldwide Labour Group.

An Afrobarometer ballot carried out in 2022 revealed that nearly three-quarters of Senegalese residents consider the federal government is mishandling the nation’s funds. The identical survey additionally discovered a big shift in public sentiment: 62 p.c of respondents stated the financial outlook was unfavourable, in contrast with simply 33 p.c 5 years earlier.

About half of the nation’s 17 million individuals stay in poverty, based on the United Nations improvement company.

Migration additionally elevated throughout Sall’s presidency with 1000’s of Senegalese making the harmful journey to Europe as a consequence of dissatisfaction with the financial scenario at residence.

“So many individuals are leaving to Europe, and that is due to a scarcity of labor and the injustices in our nation and the political scandals,” Abdou Khadar Mbaye, a 25-year-old pupil, advised Al Jazeera.

“A president must be there for his individuals and defend the pursuits of his individuals and assist younger individuals discover jobs and work,” Mbaye stated.

Ndiaye harassed that Senegal witnessed improvement and financial development underneath Sall however “human improvement” stagnated.

“That’s why we’re seeing younger individuals risking their lives to take boats to go to Europe or that don’t go to high school and are unemployed,” Ndiaye stated.

In his speech at Harvard greater than a decade in the past, Sall spoke of how democracy concerned a fragile steadiness of forces that had been vulnerable to the challenges and complexities of governance.

These phrases now stand as a cautionary story concerning the fragility of democracy in Senegal amid the unrest and political turmoil surrounding the forthcoming election as a consequence of Sall’s personal political actions.