Hamadou Tidiane Sy
3 September 2008
Dakar — Trade-unionists, journalists and ordinary citizens in Senegal have expressed relief and satisfaction days after Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade sacked Mr Farba Senghor, his Air Transport minister.
The move came as a surprise to the whole country because Mr Senghor appeared, until his removal from office, as a "powerful" minister, the most loyal supporter of the president in government and a very radical member of the ruling Senegalese Democratic Party.
Mr Senghor, who was appointed to the Cabinet in 2004, was sacked last Thursday after he was named in a police investigation, following raids at two media houses.
L'As and 24heures Chrono, two privately owned newspapers in Dakar were ransacked on August 17 by a group of people allegedly travelling in a car "with a government number plate" and who destroyed the office equipment and the computers of the two newspapers.
The managers of the attacked media outlets immediately accused the minister who had days before publicly threatened to use "physical violence" against any journalist or newspaper who would criticise him.
Furthermore, according to news leaked to several local newspapers by police investigators, all eight gang members arrested in connection with the attacks of the media houses named Mr Senghor as the mastermind behind the attacks.
Mr Senghor however strongly denied all the accusations against him, saying the police and some "lobbies" in government are working "against him".
"Ever since my name was mentioned with the suggestion I could become a prime minister, there have been people working against me", Mr Senghor said after he lost his government position.
While announcing the presidential decision, Mr Abdoul Aziz Sow, the Information minister and also the government spokesperson, made it clear that the sacked minister remains innocent until proven guilty.
Democratic principles
This decision of the president "is to respect the democratic principles and to allow him (Senghor) to defend himself in the affair of the vandalised offices of l'AS and 24heures Chrono in which some accusations have been allegedly brought against him", Mr Sow said on national television before he read the presidential decree reshuffling the government.
This precaution was interpreted as a very diplomatic way to announce that the minister will have to face the police and justice for his alleged involvement in the affair which has seriously tarnished the government's reputation.
But, despite his dismissal, Mr Senghor remained defiant. Less than a week after his dismissal, he challenged police officers who came to notify him that he was summoned to appear for a hearing at the State prosecutor's office, saying the procedure used by the police was "illegal".
"He has no choice but to go for this hearing", El Hadi Amadou Sall, President Abdoulaye Wade's spokesman at the presidency told RFM, a local radio station.
The former minister has to abide by the law "willingly or by force", Mr Sall said, as the former minister's defiant attitude was turning into another controversy and a ridiculous episode for the government.
A simple and mostly unknown member of the Senegalese Democratic Party, until their 2000 electoral victory, Mr Senghor is a prominent character in the Senegalese public scene.
He publicly says he pays full "allegiance" to President Wade in the same way a member of a religious group would respect his leader or a sect member his guru.
Many believe he simply rose to prominence thanks to this excessive loyalty to the president and his family.
When the former Prime Minister Idrissa Seck fell out with President Wade, Mr Senghor was among the hardliners within the ruling party who sided with the president and who worked hard to see Mr Seck ousted from office and imprisoned.
Despite this loyalty, his appointment in 2004 as a full government minister in charge of the key agricultural sector was a big surprise to the whole nation, the man being considered by many as lacking the good manners and the subtle ways necessary to take such huge responsibilities in government.
In fact, everyone in the country was shocked but not surprised, when he issued a statement openly defending his right to use "violence" against the media, only a few days before the two newspapers were violently vandalised.
"The real debate is why he was appointed minister in the first place, not why he is being sacked", said a sarcastic Abdou Latif Coulibaly during debate broadcast on the private TV channel Canal Info.
Mr Coulibaly is a senior Senegalese journalist, often very critical of President Wade and his government.
The media were not the only ones to be at odds with the sacked minister.
He also irritated some of his former colleagues in government with his attempts to settle crises in their respective departments, regardless of state protocol.
For instance this year, he intruded several times into the education crisis and started negotiations with teachers' trade-unions and students associations, leaving aside his colleague officially in charge of the Education department.
He angered the air transport trade-unions with threats to "jail" them for having dared to challenge him or to go on strike.
He also engaged Senegal in a battle against the Asecna (the Agency for air safety and traffic) a five decade old regional organisation shared by several countries in francophone Africa and which is headquartered in Dakar, jeopardising the country's membership to this regional body...
He opened many other controversial fronts, but always claimed to have the "full support" of the president for any act he would undertake.
On September 1st, only a few days after he was sacked, the president had to sign another decree giving full force to the country's judiciary to hear his old protégé in the affair of the vandalised newspapers.
Some analysts said this was the price to pay by the president to avoid a further deterioration of the country's image and his Cabinet's popularity, at a time Senegal is facing a multi-faceted crisis.
The attacks against the media, the ever increasing cost of living, the opposition's continued criticism for the lack of democracy, added to governance scandals related to budget over-spending that have put the government in a very uncomfortable position.
This has consequently caused a general sense of frustration and anger amongst many groups in the country.
This is one of the main reasons why, a protest march organised by journalists "against impunity" on August 23 was attended not only by journalist but also by political parties, civil society organisations, trade-unions and ordinary citizens, who all believe that their hopes have been betrayed by this government.
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