Dakar, Jul 1 (APS) – The farewells made by Moustapha Niasse to his colleagues are among the most prominent subjects in the edition of the daily newspapers for this Friday, which consider act 2 of the “concert of saucepans” unpopular at the initiative of opponent Ousmane Sonko.
Bidding them farewell, the President of the National Assembly presented to his colleagues the results of the parliamentary institution he has been leading since 2012 and announced that he had started writing a book devoted to ”the real Africa, the one that began to be built with leaders aware of the expectations” of the populations, reports L’info.
”I am not retiring from politics. As long as I have a breath of life left, I will be interested in the present and the future of our country”, reports Source A. The newspaper believes that Moustapha Niasse made a ”speech imbued with emotion” before the deputies.
The Alliance of Progress Forces (AFP), the political party he founded in 1999, is facing a “great test”, according to Sud Quotidien.
“This departure risks (…) hastening the end of his political party (…) AFP, with the retirement of its leader, seems condemned to certain death”, he conjectures, affirming that the political formation of the former Prime Minister is not well structured.
”He leaves power with the feeling of accomplishment (…) His style of management is magnified. For many deputies, Moustapha Niasse has [dirigé] the National Assembly over the past ten years,” reports L’Observateur.
A ”low intensity” concert, ”Concert-referendum of Sonko: the disavowal of the Senegalese”, ”The big flop”, ”Lessons from a fiasco”, ”From the masterstroke to the slack”, ”The mayonnaise did not take”… According to the daily newspapers, few Senegalese took part in act 2 of the ”concert of saucepans” to which the opponent Ousmane Sonko invites them.
”Some speak of a flop, as the noise level was not high (…) Today, the period is more conducive to the bleating of the sheep. It’s a nice sound to hear, unlike the sound of an empty pot. Sonko must look for other ‘solutions”, Le Quotidien jokes.
Tribune and Source A are of the same opinion: the Senegalese are more concerned about the next Tabaski festival (the sacrifice of the sheep) than about the invitation made by the mayor of Ziguinchor (south) to make a racket with honking and using pots as a protest against the governance of Macky Sall.
“This form of protest was popular on June 22 (…) But used abusively, the fiasco becomes patent,” comments Tribune.
”While some speak of failure, others think that the Senegalese are fed up with this uproar and prefer to wait until July 31 to express themselves at the polls”, writes Kritik’.
Tintamarre
Source A recalls that Ousmane Sonko and [ses militants] counted on this (…) form of struggle to convince the most skeptical of the breach of trust between the people and their president, Macky Sall”.
”Morality: Sonko may have the wind in his sails, the Senegalese are not ready to blindly follow his agenda”, analyzes Le Vrai Journal.
Sud Quotidien affirms, contrary to the other newspapers, that ”the people have done it again”. “The pans spoke well for about thirty minutes,” he notes.
WalfQuotidien believes that ”the balance of power between power and the opposition seems to be tilting in favor (…) of the presidential majority”.
”A situation which manifests itself in retreats and demobilization in the opposition camp (…) The Yewwi askan wi coalition (…) had to give in to the pressure of the populations concerned about questions of survival”, writes WalfQuotidien in speaking of initiatives announced, then abandoned, by the coalition led by Ousmane Sonko and Khalifa Sall.
”In Dakar, in its suburbs and the rest of the country, yesterday was not the great rustling”, says L’Observateur.
The daily newspapers evoke the preparation of the State budget for next year, announcing that the government plans to reach the historic bar of 6,000 billion CFA francs.
The Minister of Finance and Budget advanced this amount during a debate on budgetary orientation, before the deputies, on Thursday.
”Singing tomorrows”
”Abdoulaye Daouda Diallo announces a promising future for the national economy”, we read in Le Moniteur Quotidien, which adds: ”In terms of growth, a peak should be reached in 2023, when the operation of the Senegalese oil and gas.”
According to L’As, from 2.452 billion in 2012, Senegal’s budget should reach 6.000 billion in 2023.
At the same time, “Senegal exceeds the UEMOA standard” in terms of inflation, underlines WalfQuotidien, quoting Abdoulaye Daouda Diallo.
The West African Economic and Monetary Union has set a 3% ceiling on price increases and currency depreciation, but Senegal is at 3.8%, according to the newspaper.
“The financing policy will remain essentially anchored, on the one hand, to the use of prudent debt (…) and, on the other hand, to controlled public-private partnerships”, notes Le Soleil, quoting the Minister of Finance and Budget.
Senegal hopes to achieve a growth rate of between 7.8% and 10.5% by the end of the year, Diallo told MPs, according to Le Quotidien.