SENEGAL REFLECTING ON ITS FUTURE

25^th February, 2024 is less than three weeks away. Foroyaa is enquiring whether any election monitoring body is preparing to send election monitors for the 25^th February presidential election. We are also monitoring whether the body responsible for the production of the ballot papers and polling stations is busy preparing for election. Furthermore we are also enquiring whether the state radio and tv stations are allotting equal broadcast time to all the presidential candidates. The information we have received so far is blank.

This makes us wonder whether Senegal is really preparing for the 25^th February election. No one is hearing from the institutions responsible for the electoral process on the preparations it is making for the 25^th February election.

The facts are clear. The Decree signed by the president of Senegal and countersigned by his prime minister nullifying the Decree issued to set the date set for election for 25^th February, 2024 has put a spanner in the wheel of the electoral process that should have culminated in the holding of election on 25^th February 2024.

What law would then be relied on to set the date of the election to the 24^th February, 2024? This is the fundamental juridical question that should be answered if hope is to be kept alive that Senegal will go to election on 25^th February 2024.

Common sense pronouncements would not rescue Senegal from the deep political crisis that has gripped its democratic process and is threatening to undermine its achievements. Sober thinking in Senegal, Ecowas and the AU is needed to help Senegal to overcome the impasse and lay the foundation for the holding of peaceful, fair and credible elections.

Foroyaa will play its part in sending the right information to the Senegalese state and people in order to contribute our quota in the resolution of this historic crisis that will not be forgotten in the annals of Senegalese politics. This is why all those who make pronouncements should as much as possible be on the right side of history and prosperity. The road to a just solution to the crisis in Senegal is waiting to be paved by right thinking people.