APA – Dakar (Senegal) – Senegal’s new leaders want to replace Macky Sall’s Plan Senegal Emergent (PSE) with “Vision Senegal 2050” to transform the country.
It was a real test for the PASTEF party, which came to power two months ago. Known for its ability to mobilise the opposition, its youth wing organised a public conference on Sunday 9 June on the esplanade of the Grand Théâtre in Dakar. The “sovereignist” group did not deviate from its usual practice and filled the space with tens of thousands of militants and supporters, as if to show that it still has a popular base.
It was a great opportunity for its leader, Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, to speak on the theme of “The Contribution of Youth to the Project,” the government programme that has won over 54.28 percent of Senegalese citizens, but also to respond to his opponents in the opposition and the press.
“I offer my forgiveness to all those who have offended me. But our responsibility as political actors is to put the country back on the right track,” he said, noting that work on systemic change in Senegal had entered a new phase.
Under the leadership of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, PM Sonko intends to rely on young people to drive forward the reforms promised to the Senegalese people. He claims that the PASTEF project is designed to bring about a generational change over the next 25 years, but adds that it is not about electioneering.
“This is your project. It’s up to you to take it forward because you are the future of the country. We are preparing the ‘Vision Sénégal 2050’ programme, and then we will work on drawing up the government’s action plan,” he said.
As part of this vision, Sonko invited young people to share in the dynamism of the new government, which does not intend to give an echo to low-level debates, but encourages the quest for knowledge and civic initiatives.
”We expect you to transform the enormous energy that has carried the project into a force for the construction of our development,” he said, confirming that he intends to remain in contact “on the ground” with the young people who fought so hard to bring the “project for a just, prosperous and sovereign Senegal” to power on 24 March.
“We need you to achieve our goals, to turn around our economy, our agriculture, our industry. That’s the priority,” said the PASTEF president, alluding to the national clean-up, reforestation, farming and blood donation campaigns his party’s activists usually organise.
ODL/te/lb/as/APA