Following the National Assembly’s endorsement of the proposed constitutional amendment, Ousmane Sonko meticulously outlined the entire journey that led to this reform. He then directly implicated the head of state in the controversies surrounding the document. “If there was any manipulation, it originated from the President of the Republic. He reviewed the text, selecting what suited him and discarding what did not. The Constitution does not belong to Bassirou Diomaye Faye,” Sonko emphatically declared.
The President of the National Assembly illustrated his point by highlighting specific provisions he accused the head of state of removing. These included the mandatory declaration of assets at the end of a presidential term and the prohibition for the President of the Republic from simultaneously leading a political party. He then questioned the legitimacy of such actions: “By what authority can a single individual cherry-pick between provisions that are convenient and those that are not? This is unacceptable,” he stressed.
Indeed, Ousmane Sonko was keen to underscore the hierarchy of constitutional powers, denying the President of the Republic the status of a constituent authority. “The President is not a constituent power. The derivative constituent power rests with the National Assembly. The original constituent power belongs to the people when they are convened through a referendum.”
