Senegal’s Abdoulaye Diop has been appointed chairman of the West African Monetary Union (UEMOA) Commission.
By Cheikh Diop
The instrument appointing the new president and other members of the commission was signed on Wednesday by the president of Burkina Faso Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, the current chairman of UEMOA Conference of Heads of State and Government.
The former Senegalese Budget Minister (2009-2012), is taking over Abdallah Boureima, former Niger Minister of Economy and Finance appointed on April 10, 2017 whose term of office expired.
At its 22nd ordinary virtual session on March 25, the Conference of Heads of State and Government had decided to entrust the presidency of the Union’s Commission to the Senegalese candidate.
He had therefore requested that the appointment of the members of the commission be made by May 1 at the latest.
Abdoulaye Diop is a Treasury Inspector who graduated from the National School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM) and has served several times as chief of staff to the Minister of Economy and Finance.
He was also the chief of staff of Cheikh Hadjibou Soumaré, former Senegalese Prime Minister and President of the UEMOA Commission between 2011 and 2017.
Until his new appointment, Diop was Minister-Counsellor to President Macky Sall.
“Abdoulaye Diop has been exemplary in the management of the state budget.
A man of values, human quality and very rigorous in his work, a source close to the Ministry of Economy and Finance described him.
President Sall had chosen Abdoulaye Diop after Soumaré’s resignation in 2016.
But Niger, which coveted the post, had brandished a letter of commitment on the rotation of the presidency of the UEMOA Commission signed by the former head of state of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade.
On the basis of concessions and mediation, Senegal agreed to support the Nigerien candidate Abdallah Boureima, putting an end to the diplomatic drama between Dakar and Niamey.
In addition to the Senegalese, the other members of the UEMOA Commission were also appointed on Wednesday by the current President of the Conference of Heads of State and Government.
They are Jonas Gbian (Benin), Filiga Miche lsawadogo (Burkina Faso), Paul Koffi Koffi (Cote d’Ivoire), Mamadù Serifo Jaquite (Guinea-Bissau) Lassine Bouare (Mali), Mahamadou Gado (Niger), Kako Nubukpo (Togo).
CD/lb/as/APA