Guerre des clans au sommet, urgence sociale à la base (par Adama Ndiaye)
People used to say they were "pulling the devil by the tail" to describe struggling to make ends meet. Today in Senegal, citizens can't even see the devil's tail, let alone the tail of the sheep for Tabaski, which is fast approaching. While the population runs from morning till night to make ends meet, coping with soaring rents, recurring water cuts, and technical problems at the Treasury, the ruling class seems to be living in a completely different time zone.
Browsing the media and social networks, one would think the 2029 presidential election was imminent. Political hikes, mega-rallies, congresses, and positioning battles saturate the space. Ministers, directors general, and members of parliament engage in daily verbal sparring, prioritizing the frenetic pursuit of buzz over the crucial quest for concrete results.
Amidst this turmoil, a major shift is taking shape. The era of close alliance, epitomized by the famous slogan "Sonko mooy Diomaye, Diomaye mooy Sonko," seems well and truly over. Now, it's every man for himself. Driven by personal ambitions dictated by the presidential horizon, Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Ousmane Sonko now appear ready to drown everything in what Karl Marx so aptly called "the icy waters of selfish calculation."
Public debate has thus been reduced to sterile political arithmetic. The constant questioning is who will be the official Pastef candidate, how the internal structure functions, who is siding with Sonko and who is choosing the pro-Diomaye camp. While the party leaderships observe and neutralize each other, a much heavier reality is taking hold in the country. Fatigue is widespread, disillusionment is gaining ground, and a gloom has settled over faces, accompanied by a pervasive feeling of abandonment.
This distress transcends even humankind. At Hann Park, the animals are slowly dying, reflecting the same truth as that of households. Like the Senegalese, they are slowly dying in a leaden silence, a silence that clearly disturbs the authorities far less than the constant clamor of palace squabbles.
A crucial question then arises: do those who govern us truly understand the mood of the population? Do they see this growing weariness? Do they finally understand that, behind the smokescreen of their political calculations, a people struggles, every day, simply to live with dignity?
Commentaires (19)
Participer à la Discussion
Règles de la communauté :
💡 Astuce : Utilisez des emojis depuis votre téléphone ou le module emoji ci-dessous. Cliquez sur GIF pour ajouter un GIF animé. Collez un lien X/Twitter, TikTok ou Instagram pour l'afficher automatiquement.