Uneasy calm reigns in Senegal following Friday night’s decision by President Bassirou Faye’s to sack his mentor and country’s Prime Minister, Ousmanne Sonko.
The discord between the Prime Minister and President Faye has been on display for months, making their governing alliance increasingly uncertain.
At the start of May, the president had criticised Sonko’s “excessive personalisation” within the ruling Pastef party.
Sonko, whose dismissal was read on State TV alongisde the dissolution of the entire cabinet via a presidential decree, said on social media that he would “sleep soundly’ at his house in Senegal’s capital, Dakar where supporters rallied after the announcement.
The 52-year old was mayor of one of Senegal’s far-flung cities and generated a passionate following a decade ago with his nationalist rhetoric.
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His Pastef party, which fielded his then protege, Bassirou Faye, won outright in the first round of 2024 elections beating erstwhile leader, Macky Sall’s nominated successor.
The winning party’s promise of a profound political shake-up, vow to fight corruption and rejig of the economy mired in debt, swayed voters most of whom are part of Senegal’s youthful population.
Sonko was barred from running in that 2024 election in controversial circumstances following a defamation, conviction, charges he maintained were politicallly motivated.
Last month, Senegal’s Parliament which has the Pastef party in majority, approved a bill that removes defamation conviction as legal condition to make any candidate ineligible to run for president.
This would open the way for Sonko to contest the 2029 election but whether Faye will sign that bill is the next political question, as he is entitled to a second term.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
