Limit the exercise of functions and responsibilities in the institutions of the Republic in relation to the existence of family ties with the President of the Republic. This bill by the unregistered deputy Aminata Touré has finished dividing the political class. While opponents naturally see it as a way to undermine the current regime, the presidential movement likens it to an intention to do harm caused by a desire to retaliate. Especially since independence, the President’s family members have always held high responsibilities.
Aminata Touré no longer wants to see close or distant relatives of the leaders of the state apparatus. We’ll see what becomes of her account. However, we can’t help but wish her a lot of fun as she tackles an old political practice in Senegal. In fact, this is not a new fact: the members of the presidential family have, since independence, occupied strategic positions within the state. It started with Léopold Sedar Senghor. The president-poet did not hesitate to entrust the Ministry of Rural Development to his nephew, Adrien Senghor. Adrien’s results apparently pleased Senghor, who later entrusted him with the Department of Equipment, before appointing him Minister of State later. This is the beginning of a tradition that has become part of republican practice.
Abdou Diouf, who replaced the president-poet, rushed to do so. If Senghor had only one member of his family, Diouf had several. But the most notable was Magued Diouf. His brother was responsible for the modernization of the state. A function that aimed to make administration more efficient. Here, too, Diouf seemed convinced of his brother’s work. Later he will entrust him with Energy, Mines and Industry. A bit talkative in nature, Magued Diouf adopted a low profile after the fall of the socialist regime, but returned to center stage when he refused to give up his official E-spot under the Macky era.
While the first two presidents seemed to have some restraint when it came to naming their family members, Wade, for his part, didn’t even ask himself that question. For the pope of Sopi it was necessary to surround himself with his family as a matter of safety. This is how he wanted to insert his nephew, Lamine Faye, into the gendarmerie, with the rank of Captain. Wade also wanted to count 3 blue berets in the ranks of the gendarmerie, without letting them go to a military training school. A stretch that Colonel Ndaw did not accept. Dircel at the time, the colonel denounced in his book, The excesses of the Wade, the nepotism at the top of the state, the fact that “the President of the Republic wanted to appoint four blue caps including Lamine Faye (his nephew), gendarmerie captains and integrate them into his close guard “.
Wade later appointed Sindiely, his daughter, as his chief advisor, before entrusting her with the chairmanship of the Organizing Committee of the 3rd Festival of Negro Arts (Fesman). His son, Karim Wade, meanwhile, was minister for international cooperation, spatial planning and infrastructure. He was the one who ran the Anoci Summit and its billions of expenses. His nephew, Doudou Wade, has put him in charge of chairing the Freedom and Democracy parliamentary group during all of Wade’s terms. Meanwhile, Ndiouga Sakho, one of Wade’s nephews, was the director of town planning after leading Sapco.
After Wade’s fall in 2012, Macky Sall, in a workout seduction exercise, vowed never to name his brother by decree. Finally, like his mentor, he backed down and entrusted him with the Caisse des dépôts et consignations. The roar of the opposition ends up paying off after the scandal created by the transmission of a BBC documentary, which denounces the management of hydrocarbons in Senegal. Aliou Sall is relieved of his duties, but will continue to manage his town hall in Guédiawaye. Luckily, Macky Sall’s brother-in-law will not be expelled from the government. Mansour Faye, brother of the wife of the Head of State, was appointed Delegate General for Social Protection and National Solidarity. Before climbing the ladder to become Minister of Infrastructure, Land Transport and the Opening of Senegal. Position that he holds after being exfiltrated from that of Community Development, Solidarity and Territorial Equity, where his management of funds for the purchase of food was disturbed in order to mitigate the effects of Covid.
