Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko on Thursday promised investigations into the "widespread corruption" that he said was rife under the former government before April 2024, which he accused of manipulating public finance figures. "The unbridled debt policy (followed under President Macky Sall) has led to the use of resources that is non-transparent and conducive to widespread corruption," he told the press. He denounced a "methodology (...) to embezzle public funds en masse."Mr Sonko, appointed Prime Minister in April after the resounding victory of his former second in command Bassirou Diomaye Faye in the presidential election a few days earlier, drew up an inventory of the public finances found by the new leaders."We were far from imagining that things were so catastrophic," Mr Sonko said. He accused the former authorities of lying and falsifying figures, particularly to international partners, for example on debt."The Macky Sall regime lied to the people, lied to its partners, fiddled with the figures to give an economic and financial image that has nothing to do with reality," he insisted."Responsibilities will have to be located," he said. Former Finance Ministers Abdoulaye Daouda Diallo and Mamadou Moustapha Ba, former Prime Minister Amadou Ba and former President Macky Sall "who could not ignore these practices, will have to explain to the Senegalese why and how they were able to plunge the country into this situation," he said.Alongside him, the Minister of Justice Ousmane Diagne declared that the suspicions of manipulation "seem to have a criminal qualification that the competent judicial authorities seized will have to determine".This press conference, the government's first, was expected: Messrs. Faye and Sonko, brought to power by the hope of change placed in them by a population half of whom are under 19 and a large part of whom struggle daily to find work and make ends meet, have not yet presented a detailed action plan six months after their advent.The Senegalese will elect a ne w parliament on November 17. To give himself the means to act, President Faye has just dissolved the National Assembly, where a majority favorable to the former president persisted.In September, the International Monetary Fund predicted a deterioration in Senegal's budgetary position and difficult growth prospects in 2024. It recommended "strong measures".- Reassuring -The National Statistics Agency reported in September an unemployment rate of 21.6% in the second quarter, up 3% compared to the same period in 2023.Senegalese people continue to leave their country in large numbers aboard pirogues bound for Europe, and dozens have died in the Atlantic this year, including since Mr Faye came to power.A "national transformation agenda" will be officially launched on October 7, the government said.Asked about the measures he will take to ease the daily lives of his compatriots, Mr. Sonko refrained from answering so as not to distract attention from his remarks of the day.Messrs. Faye and Sonko have r epeatedly said that they would demand accountability. Former officials are already being questioned and a number of them have been prevented from leaving the country. The former presidential camp is denouncing score-settling.As for the sincerity of the figures, the Minister of Economy Aboudrahmane Sarr declared that the budget deficit announced at an average of 5.5% of the GDP over the period 2019-2023 had in fact been 10.4%, and the public debt, announced at 65.9% of the GDP, was 76.3% in reality.Mr Sarr and Mr Sonko have outlined the broad directions for future action.The government intends to reduce central government debt from 83.7% of GDP in 2023 to less than 70% and the budget deficit to 3% "within a reasonable time frame," said Mr. Sarr.They discussed broadening the tax base, streamlining spending, eliminating energy subsidies, and an effort to formalize the largely informal Senegalese economy. They sought to reassure about the impact these efforts could have, as well as their accusations on gr owth and the confidence of investors and foreign partners.Source: Burkina Information Agency
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