Senegal’s former ruling coalition, Benno Bokk Yakaar (BBY), says it is ready to wage a final battle against the new Senegalese government before it and the National Assembly is dissolved. A motion of censure has been announced against the government of Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko.
At a time when former President Macky Sall (2012-2024) seems to be putting an end to the Benno Bokk Yakaar (BBY) adventure, the former ruling coalition says it is ready to wage a final battle against the new government before it and the National Assembly is dissolved.
Following Monday’s rejection of the bill to abolish the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) and the High Council of Territorial Communities (HCCT), MP Abdou Mbow, leader of the BBY coalition’s parliamentary group, has announced that he will table a motion of no confidence in Ousmane Sonko’s government.
We are going to table a motion of censure on Tuesday to bring down the first ministerial team of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, elected just five months ago,’ declared Mr Mbow, expressing his satisfaction at having joined 82 of his colleagues in rejecting the first bill submitted to Parliament by the Head of State.
Now, the last battle, like a last stand, that the BBY intends to wage is to overthrow Prime Minister Sonko, who, with his political group, the African Patriots of Senegal for Labour, Ethics and Fraternity (PASTEF), led a fierce opposition to their leader Macky Sall before coming to power last March.
Mr Mbow and his comrades accused Mr Sonko of not wanting to present his General Policy Statement (DPG), despite the updating of the National Assembly’s rules of procedure, which Mr Sonko had made a precondition for his long-awaited DPG.
Political gain
The Parliament could be dissolved on 12 September, which is why BBY wants to put the matter under urgent procedure, hoping for a political gain
if President Faye could reappoint the government at the last minute in the event of a vote on the no-confidence motion.
Several members of the parliamentary majority, made up of members of the former ruling coalition, see Ousmane Sonko’s attitude as a lack of respect for them. They therefore intend to use all the legal means at
their disposal to prevent the leader and the current regime from making things any easier.
I would like to highlight the violation of the Constitution by the Prime Minister, who did not want his DPG, who did not want the institutions that we represent to be respected. A government that is now embroiled in scandals,’ Abdou Mbow argued in support of his case against Ousmane Sonko’s government.
According to parliamentary experts, the motion of censure is tabled by one tenth of the members of the National Assembly. The actual vote can only take place two days after the motion has been tabled. The motion
is examined in a public vote by an absolute majority of the deputies, of which there are currently 165. This result is not a foregone conclusion for BBY, which on Monday only managed 83 votes to thwart the new regime’s plan to abolish the EESC and the HCCT.
Backlash against a plan
The last-minute announcement on the same day by former head of state Macky Sall, who remains leader of the BBY, to end this coalition could also have repercussions on the draft motion of censure tabled by Abdou Mbow and Co. After Monday’s plenary session, some BBY MPs, like Mbow refused to comment on Macky Sall’s statement implicitly announcing the death of their coalition.
We have to think and accept that we have to go beyond BBY and now project ourselves into the new era of political action. Drawing on the lessons of the verdict of the ballot box (of 24 March), we will have
to invent a more appropriate framework, adapted to our current imperatives,’ the former Senegalese head of state told his comrades in the BBY coalition, which he now uses in the past tense, following the defeat of his candidate Amadou Ba in the first round of the recent presidential elections, with only 35.79 percent against 54.28 percent for Bassirou Diomaye Faye, the candidate supported by Sonko.
Benno has been a wonderful adventure which, beyond politics, has forged very strong bonds of friendship and brotherhood between us. It will undoubtedly go down as one of Senegal’s greatest political achievements, and we should be proud of it,’ said Macky Sall, who has been splitting his time between France and Morocco since leaving office on April 2. .
ODL/sf/ac/lb/GIK/APA