Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko has clarified the government’s stance on the sensitive issue of political funds, openly expressing a difference of opinion with President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
“I do not agree with the President on this specific point; I believe he is mistaken and I hope he will reconsider his position,” he declared. He pointed out that their coalition’s promise was never to abolish these financial envelopes, but rather to eliminate the practice of “fictitious funds containing the money of the Sénégalais people, handed over to individuals to use as they wish without any oversight.”
Disclosing that the Prime Minister’s office is allocated 1.77 billion FCFA in political funds, the head of government maintained that these assets must no longer be utilized as “electoral or political instruments to recruit supporters or for personal enrichment.”
To tackle this lack of clarity, Ousmane Sonko is calling for a major reform centered on transparency and parliamentary supervision, drawing inspiration from the French governance model. While he conceded that certain budgets, particularly those involving national defense secrets, “cannot be made public,” he proposed the establishment of a select committee of deputies to ensure that “the voted amounts were indeed used for their intended purposes.”
To demonstrate his commitment, he explained that he has phased out cash payments in favor of electronic transfers and checks for managing his own allocated funds. “It is a question of principle. The funds will be maintained, and I am not opposed to increasing them. However, they must be strictly controlled,” he concluded, receiving applause from the deputies.
