Amadou Ba reassures Senegal’s Financial Partners and praises the vision of Pres. Macky Sall.

Prime Minister Amadou Ba chaired a meeting this Friday with the Technical and Financial Partners (G50) in the presence of the Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad, Minister of the Interior, Minister of Finance and Budget, Minister of Economy, Planning and Cooperation, Minister of Trade and SMEs, also Government spokesperson. The Prime Minister welcomed the vision of the President of the Republic Macky Sall for the emergence of Senegal, notes laviesenegalaise.com, a Senegalese online news outlet.

This meeting is a framework for regular dialogue for a common commitment to Senegal’s national development priorities. Prime Minister Amadou Ba, who chaired the meeting, welcomed the vision of the President of the Republic Macky Sall, the effort of the Senegalese people, and above all the support of technical and financial partners. “It is thanks to the vision of the President of the Republic Macky Sall, the effort of the Senegalese people, and your support that our country has made considerable progress in recent years. I thank you, therefore very sincerely, on behalf of the Head of State and on behalf of the government, for the decisive contributions that you all make, through various projects, programs, and budgetary support to support our development efforts”, said the head of government.

According to him, the figures eloquently bear witness to this [the efforts] with more than 6,500 billion francs mobilized during phase II of the Emerging Senegal Plan and 3,000 billion francs which are in the process of being mobilized. “All this is possible thanks to a fruitful and fruitful partnership that we have been able to build together, over the years, within the framework of a frank and sincere dialogue allowing an alignment of your various supports on the priorities defined by the President of the Republic and implemented by the government”, supported Amadou Ba.

However, he believes that many challenges must be met to meet the expectations of the population. Calling for continued collaboration with the Technical and Financial Partners of the G50 in order to strengthen the capacities of the government and better meet the needs of the population.

“We are aware that sustainable development can only be achieved through a comprehensive and inclusive approach. That is why we want to strengthen our partnership with you by working together to promote economic growth, job creation, youth and women empowerment, environmental protection, democratic governance, justice, and social peace,” he said.

Referring to the economic situation of Senegal, the Prime Minister recalls that, despite an economic situation marked by multifaceted crises which restrict the demand addressed to the economy and harden the conditions of access to financing, Senegal continues to preserve the foundations of a sound macroeconomic framework, as evidenced by the latest IMF review under the ICPE, which revealed the resilience of the Senegalese economy.

Oil and gas exploitation

According to Prime Minister Amadou Ba, in 2023, the national economy should benefit from the start of oil and gas exploitation. Thus, it should be on the rise with a projected growth of 8.8% against an estimate of 4.2% in 2022. This revival is in line with the expected dynamism in the secondary sector, which would post a record increase of 16.4% in connection with the performance of the extractives sub-sector (+116.1%). This revival of activities in the extractive sub-sector is mainly explained by the integration of oil and gas production expected at 10 million barrels and 7 Tbtu respectively. However, concerns remain about the effective start of hydrocarbon production at the end of 2023, he said. Growth forecasts may also be subject to revision at the end of the first half of 2023 to take into account the international environment, the observation of the first six months of the year, and a better appreciation of the exploitation of hydrocarbons.

Senegal oriented toward the trajectory of the emergence

However, with the tightening of financial conditions in most advanced economies and the scarcity of financial resources in the sub-regional market, the Government plans to conclude a disbursement program with the IMF.

In this regard, the option of a program supported by the Extended Credit Facility (ECM) and the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) for a period of at least three years seems the most appropriate, Mr. Ba said.

For him, this type of program would also allow Senegal to apply for funding under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RDF). In light of the results obtained with the ICPE program, the outlines of the program would be centered around the following three themes:

strengthen the resilience of public finances:

1. improving governance;

2. improving socio-economic resilience.

Despite the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Senegal remains indefinitely oriented toward the trajectory of emergence.

In this sense, the Prime Minister welcomed, with satisfaction, the contribution of multilateral and bilateral partners, who through their commitment, have always renewed their support for Senegal.

“I would now like to invite you to find, together, a common strategy to better coordinate our efforts, maximize the impact of our interventions and strengthen the sustainability of the results obtained,” he asked.

Also, as part of the continuation and consolidation of the partnership, the Prime Minister invites inclusive reflection to find adequate responses to concerns related to delays in the processing of market and payment files; the multiplicity of conditions precedent to entry into force, and/or first disbursement, which deserve to be streamlined;

Also, the double review in terms of procurement (by the internal cells of the ministries and the DCMP) and those of the partners. “These reviews are considered redundant and considerably delay the implementation of projects because the procedures, as well as the deadlines, are quite long”, underlines the PM.

Calling to eliminate the double review and to agree with each donor on thresholds beyond which the opinion of the DCMP will not be required and vice versa.

He also mentioned the absence or delay of formal notification of disbursements actually made, which prevents better monitoring by the competent services.

Current National Political Issues

Exceptional revision of electoral lists:

From the outset, the Prime Minister announced that in view of the presidential election scheduled for February 25, 2024, the exceptional revision of the electoral lists started yesterday, April 6, 2023, and will end on Saturday, May 6, 2023, throughout the country, the extent of the national territory and abroad.

“As you know, this exercise is based on the Electoral Code, in particular in its article L.37 paragraph 5, which provides that before each general election an exceptional revision of the electoral lists for the purpose of updating the electoral register, and allows Senegalese citizens who will be eighteen (18) years of age on that date, but also any other citizen who fulfills the required conditions and has not yet completed this formality, to be able to register on the electoral lists”, explained the Head of Government.

Continuing, he adds that the lists of movements resulting from the exceptional revision of the electoral lists are deposited or sent to the administrative, diplomatic, or consular authorities as well as to the secretariats of the mayors and departmental councilors, no later than Wednesday, May 31. The report of receipt of the list of movements resulting from the exceptional revision of the electoral lists will be posted on Wednesday, May 31, 2023.

The Prime Minister specifies in the process that, from June 1 to June 15, 2023, any voter omitted or subject to a purely material error relating to his Registration and holding his receipt has a period of 72 hours to enter directly or through the intermediary of the C.E.N.A, the president of the competent Court of Instance or the head of the diplomatic or consular representation if he resides abroad, to have his rights restored.

“In accordance with the law, the administrative commissions which will be established for this purpose by the competent authorities will be responsible, at the level of the electoral districts, for the execution of various operations of this exceptional revision of the electoral lists”, he said.

Thus, in addition to the registration of new voters, these administrative commissions will carry out the other traditional operations of the exceptional revision of the electoral lists, namely the modification, the change of status, and the radiation, the Prime Minister explains.

Rights and Freedoms in Senegal

Still, in the context of national political news, the Prime Minister reframed the debate on the accusations made against the system of protection and guarantees of rights and freedoms in Senegal. “Very attached to the values of the protection of human rights and the rule of law and working for the promotion of rights and freedoms such as freedom of expression and freedom of demonstration, our country ensures their respect on a daily basis. within the framework of the application of the laws and regulations in force”, he informed the technical and financial partners.

According to the Prime Minister, Senegal is resolutely committed to protecting public rights and freedoms by guaranteeing the exercise of these under the permanent control of the judiciary. “The protection framework authorizes the intervention of the administrative authorities, in certain circumstances, in particular in cases of risk of disturbance to public order and insufficient manpower of the defense and security forces to supervise the demonstrations”, explains Amadou Ba.

To reassure Senegal’s partners, he puts forward statistics relating to the exercise of public freedoms which demonstrate respect by the administrative and judicial police authorities, responsible for preventing disturbances to public order and repressing their perpetrators in accordance with the legal procedures, and regulations in force.

“In 2022, out of 4633 requests for demonstrations throughout the national territory, only 136 were prohibited, a rate of 2.98%”, reveals Amadou Ba.

For him, it is important to note that the prohibition measures have always been motivated in particular by the need to prevent the risk of disturbances to public order, to guarantee the free movement of people and goods on strategic roads, and by the requirement to guarantee the safety of people and property.

Thus, underlines the Head of Government, “to better protect the rights and freedoms of citizens, the State of Senegal, adopted the organic law n ° 2017-09 of January 17, 2017, repealing and replacing the organic law n ° 2008-35 of August 08, 2008, on the Supreme Court, amended by Organic Law No. 2022-16 of May 23, 2022, which instituted a judge in summary proceedings in administrative matters, judge of urgency, who ensures the protection of the fundamental freedoms of citizens “.

According to him, this concretely allows the applicant, when for example the competent administrative authority prohibits a demonstration or a meeting, to seize as soon as possible the judge who has the obligation to rule within forty-eight hours.

Also, Amadou Ba recalls that the cases of recorded arrests are linked to common law offenses. “Senegal is a pioneer in respect for human rights and this is what earned it the place it deserves at the international level”, concludes the Prime Minister.