Cape Town — The dissolution of the government and the dismissal of the leader of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE), Aminata Touré, are the dominant subjects analyzed and commented on by the newspapers, according to the Senegalese Press Agency on Thursday.
President Macky Sall notably ended on Wednesday the functions of ministers and secretaries of state members of the government and of the president of the CESE.
He signed four decrees dismissing members of the government, Ms. Touré, the Minister of State, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic, Mahammad Boun Abdallah Dionne, and the Secretary General of the Government, Maxime Jean Simon Ndiaye.
Changes which seem to have taken all observers, including the press, by surprise as can be seen from the headlines and other highlighted comments.
"Macky Sall shakes the Republic" a year and a half after his re-election, exclaims The Witness, for example. The newspaper recalls that in four decrees, the Head of State dissolved the government and dismissed the President of the CESE, the Minister of State, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic and the Secretary of the Government.
In light of these events, the publication expects a major upheaval in all sectors of the state.
"Macky Sall slashes everything", for its part Liberation which explains in passing to its readers the reasons why in-depth changes in the government but also in the institutions are necessary.
The newspaper is already drawing the outlines of the new government and rules out the return of the post of prime minister removed the day after Sall's re-election for a second term in 2019.
"Macky Sall's government lasted just one year, six months and 21 days. The President of the Republic, who is still struggling to impress a sustained pace on his governments notwithstanding the slogans, ended up dissolving his government," Sud Quotidien analyzes.
The timing of the announcements and the prospect of a new government, noted the newspaper, reminds everyone that the head of state was still the "sole master on board".
"The dissolution of the government is part of a dynamic to drive a new approach to public policies. Since taking the oath, the head of state has had time to observe and assess the actions of members of the government in the conduct of affairs, " Le Soleil said.
These announced changes are reportedly part of a desire by Sall to regain control in a context marked by the economic recession following the health crisis and the resurgence of the phenomenon of emigration and its tragedies.
So many factors pushed Macky Sall to take a new path, suggests the daily.
Meanwhile, L'Observateur takes a behind-the-scenes look at the Cabinet reshuffle and provides its readers with an account of a sad morning of separation at the Palace of the Republic.
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Newspapers are also trying to make sense of the dismissal of former Prime Minister Aminata Touré from her post as President of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council.
+ Source A + sees it as an unprecedented humiliation inflicted on Touré due, according to the newspaper, to suspicions about her inclinations to prepare for a candidacy for the presidential election of 2024.
+ Lii Quotidien + evokes a "disenchantment" between the head of state and his former prime minister.
"Over time, Touré 's relations with Macky Sall had deteriorated," said the newspaper.
- Read the original article in French from APS, our publisher partner.
