APA – Dakar (Senegal) With Ousmane Sonko still jailed, Bassirou Diomaye Faye has been designated to lead the opposition Pastef party in the presidential elections of March 2024.
He is one of 19 candidates selected by the constitutional court to take part in the first round of the presidential election, scheduled for 24 March after the vote was postponed on 25 February.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who was nominated by Ousmane Sonko, the leader of the African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (Pastef) party, was barred from standing due to his two-month suspended sentence for defamation handed down by a criminal court, which was increased to six months suspended by the Court of Appeal.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who has also been in prison since May 2023 for criticising the judiciary, almost failed the crucial test of sponsorship.
He had to regularise more than 4,000 internal duplicates in order to be “validated” by the constitutional court on 12 January. Confirmed on the final list published eight days later by the seven wise men, the secretary-general of Sonko’s party is now officially a presidential candidate.
In his project “for a sovereign, just and prosperous Senegal,” candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye stated that his team’s vision is “to make Senegal a just, prosperous and sovereign nation anchored in strong values.” “This vision advocates the need to find new paths for Senegal’s economic and social development, based on the values of patriotism, hard work, ethics and fraternity.”
This project is structured around five axes comprising fifteen orientations. In the first area, which is concerned with institutional renewal and a commitment to Africa, the Diomaye President coalition proposes major reforms, starting with the establishment of “a responsible executive and the reduction of the outstanding prerogatives of the President of the Republic.”
This would include “establishing the political responsibility of the president by introducing a procedure of impeachment for serious misconduct, the content of which would be specified.” The candidate nominated by Ousmane Sonko to lead the Pastef Project promises to “create the post of Vice-President, elected in tandem with the president” and to abolish the post of Prime Minister.
“The prerogatives of each of the two heads of the executive will be clearly distributed,” reads the 84-page text seen by APA.
Senegal’s third president, Abdoulaye Wade, created the post of vice-president, which was abolished by his successor, Macky Sall, after he came to power in 2012.
In order to achieve “genuine sub-regional and African integration,” Diomaye Faye plans to lead an “initiative to reform ECOWAS by strengthening the Community Parliament, the Community Court and reducing the predominance of the Conference of Heads of State and Government.” “We will set up a genuine programme of decentralised cooperation involving the West African states,” the document adds, specifying that this cooperation will be maintained through “the organisation of trade fairs at city level, socio-cultural events and twinning between West African cities.”
Separation of executive and judicial powers
On the subject of judicial reforms, Diomaye intends to cut the cord between the executive and the judiciary. “We will move from a Constitutional Council to a Constitutional Court,” which will be “at the top of the judicial organisation.” As part of the drive for accountability and the strengthening of oversight bodies, the opposition leader has also announced his intention to “abolish the so-called political funds and replace them with special funds voted by the Assembly for highly sensitive operations (such as arms and secret missions).” A law will also be passed to “protect whistleblowers and encourage whistleblowing, as provided for in the law on transparency in the management of public finances.”
To achieve “an efficient and resilient economy based on transparent management of public finances,” the Diomaye President coalition wants to rely on “an endogenous economic model of industrialisation through import substitution.”
Single currency in the crosshairs
Above all, candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye wants to implement a monetary reform to finance “our economy.” “We will carry out a monetary reform that will allow our country to have its own currency,” reads the manifesto.
However, it specifies that “the creation of a currency requires the respect of the stages of the process,” noting that it requires “the implementation of a sound macroeconomic policy, the separation of the commercial banks from the deposit banks, the technical means to create money, the temporary demonetisation of gold,” to re-profile the public debt and cancel the private debt, to settle the trade deficit, to settle foreign assets and negotiate advance accounts, to set up a deposit insurance system, to create a stock market supervisory authority, to direct the Treasury to major works, to create a central bank with limited independence, and to make the currency floating and semi-convertible.”
The Diomaye for President Coalition wants to “restore the image and dignity of the defence and security forces by fighting corruption and inefficiency to ensure that resources are used effectively through programmes to improve the morale, motivation and control of officers and by increasing the salaries of subordinates.”
As for “defence and external security,” the ‘Project’ promises to preserve the “fundamental identity” of the Defence and Security Forces (FDS) with a “return to military orthodoxy so that they do not serve as political police.” The document goes on to announce a strengthening of the army’s air resources with the acquisition of “strategic transport aircraft (C130) for our external commitments.”
Who is Bassirou Diomaye Faye?
Bassirou Diomaye Faye was born in 1980 in Ndiaganiao, in the western department of Mbour. he is the replacement candidate for Pastef after Ousmane Sonko’s candidacy was declared invalid. He obtained his baccalaureate in 2000. In 2004, he obtained a master’s degree in law and, after passing ‘both’ competitive exams, he enrolled at the National School of Administration (ENA) and the magistracy.
He chose Tax and Estates department. His relationship with Ousmane Sonko, a graduate of the same school, began within the Taxes and Estates Union, created by the president of Pastef in 2014. When this political group was created, Bassirou Diomaye Faye was only a guest, according to the candidate’s website. He quickly became one of Pastef’s leaders and proved to be very stubborn when he disagreed, without being unreasonable.
Appointed Pastef secretary-general – the MP Ayib Daffé has been secretary-general since July 2023 – arrested in May 2023 and remanded in custody for criticising the Senegalese justice system.
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