During a rare interview with a selected Senegalese press, Macky Sall reiterated to anyone who would listen that his mandate would end on April 2, 2024, and that beyond this date, he would no longer be in charge.
Macky Sall also affirmed that a new date would be decided only after a dialogue with various political actors. However, the latest information indicates that political actors are not interested in dialogue but in quickly choosing a date to allow elections to be held so that the new president can be sworn in on April 2, 2024.
The one who took the liberty, without any dialogue, to repeal the law summoning the electorate a few hours before the start of the campaign and who accepted a bill passed on the sly in the National Assembly without the participation of the opposition deputies today seeks to make the Senegalese and the rest of the world believe that he is a man of consensus who has always placed the interests of the country first.
American author James Baldwin has a famous quote: “I can’t believe what you say because I see what you do.”
The unrest in Senegal began the day after Macky Sall’s speech repealing decree 2024-106. This unrest has so far caused four deaths, countless property damage, the arrest of hundreds of citizens, and continuous strikes. Dakar’s main public university, Cheikh Anta Diop, which was supposed to open in November, is still closed, leaving thousands of students in limbo.
Senegal, once a model of democracy in West Africa, has reached the lowest point on the democracy thermometer. We could have believed in Macky Sall’s goodwill if this interview with the press had taken place the day after the Council’s decision and a date had been set during that same weekend.
By reacting a long week after the Constitutional Council’s decision inviting the organization of elections as soon as possible, Macky Sall is seeking dialogue to gain time so that the elections are not held in time for April 2, 2024. He wants the Senegalese to have no choice but to ask him to stay to avoid chaos. However, the country has already been plunged into turmoil since Macky Sall disrupted the natural course of the electoral process with his last-minute decree.
The Senegalese people only want one thing: for elections to be organized so that they can choose the new president who will be sworn in on April 2, 2024. They want nothing less, nothing more.
