OPINION
By Musa Bassadi Jawara
I’ve written dozens of articles on politics, economics and security in Africa, for over a decade. My writings were done incognito until recently; I express them publicly. In this essay, I’ll give my take on Sunday’s poll in Senegal, after following political developments in that locale for the past couple of years and, now the moment of truth has arrived. I’m prepared to take the heat on my optics in glaring wording in this final piece, before Election Day, Sunday, because I’m compelled by virtue of moral conscience to elucidate the misconceptions after being disillusioned by the delusions of the campaign.
The politics PASTEF nurtured in Senegal, authored by Mr Ousman Sonko, over the past several years, will be rejected and sent to the dustbin of history on Sunday, by the people of Senegal. The agenda of PASTEF is an exploitation of the underprivileged citizens, the angry youths, the disgruntled emigrants and the mischievous politicians. Ousman Sonko is a skilled demagogue and had captured the imagination of the nation of Senegal for years and seared in their minds and idiosyncrasies, a fake doctrine.
PASTEF is presenting a “project” that’s vague, devoid of specificity and empirical evidence as to how the social ills and mammoth economic woes of Senegal will be redressed. Ousman Sonko and his followers are hiding behind rejected and failed communism doctrines of socialism, Marxism-Leninism class warfare that late African leaders like, Patrice Lumumba of Congo, Nkrumah of Ghana and in recent times, Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso, to give a few examples, promulgated with ignominious failures. We in The Gambia, learned a bitter lesson with mortifying experience after Constitutional order was toppled in the mid-90s, dramatized and epitomized in what PASTEF of Senegal is now marketing. I hasten to add the latter pursues its quest under the guise of electoral democracy as opposed to the barrel of the gun championed by Lt. Yahya Jammeh and his murderous regime that traumatized Gambians for over two decades.
Mr Diomaye Faye’s candidature was accidental, and it is absolute nonsense. His stump speeches are miserable and sad; honestly, Senegal’s status and democratic achievements and standing in the civilized world have surpassed the political sham unfolding in Dakar. For example, moving the capital to Zighuinchor; creating a national currency, a process that’ll cause macroeconomic chaos of grotesque scale; brandishing a broom to clean up society that carries a subliminal message, which is deemed as a threat; touting a pseudo and tabula rasa project that has no precedence or example globally and, insinuating a class-warfare that will undoubtedly destabilize the nation of Senegal, etc.
Diomaye’s plan by his own declaration will automatically trigger a military takeover of a nation, hitherto, a beacon of stability in a region fraught with coups and instability. It will be a disaster of titanic proportions and, I fervently believe the majority of Senegalese have discovered the danger in the prospects of electing Diomaye Faye, president of Senegal on Sunday. Diomaye was an unknown commodity in the PASTEF hierarchy until his release from the state penitentiary, circa 10 days ago. I’m very disappointed to see former premier minister Madam Mimi Toure on this bandwagon and it’s abhorrent and despicable. Diomaye and Ousman are cavalier and angry sociopaths, disguised as politicians who spare no efforts to label opponents with unproven accusations, slander and calumny in a denigrating fashion.
The program or project Ousman Sonko is at his best for is discharging ad hominem attacks callously. By threatening former premier minister, Amadou Ba, of financial malfeasance when they were both serving as officials at the state revenue department, is a vivid example. This is not how professional politicians or persons of authority function. How and why Senegalese bought into this mega monstrosity and demagoguery with gigantic popularity never been seen on African soil, defied conventional logic. “Wallahi”!
After watching his two-hour interview with Maimouna Ndoure on Thursday, evening March 21, on Seneweb:
I ENDORSE THE CANDIDATURE OF FORMER PREMIER MINISTER AMADOU BA FOR THE PRESIDENCY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SENEGAL.
GO AMADOU!
PS// I do not mind at all for the public to castigate and denigrate me for expressing my inner-core feelings about the issues that are accentuated above. Whoever opted to the contrary, what say you? Present your version of the narrative above to the fore. In the same vein, I respect all views, flattery and descending, likewise.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect The Fatu Network’s editorial stance.
