Mr Abdoulie Jawo converted an audio recording of BBC’s interview with Ebrahima Kane, Political political analyst, on the constitutional crises in Senegal and the violations of the entrenched clause on presidential term limit, as provided under article 103 of the Constitution of Senegal, according to Ibrahima Kane.
Ibrahima Kane further gives an example of Senegal’s Constitutional Council’s decision of 2016 when Macky Sall requested the Constitutional Council to reduce his term limit from seven years to five years. According to Ibrahima Kane, the Constitutional Council decided that the presidential term limit in Senegal can neither be shortened nor extended.
Therefore, if the enactment by the Senegalese parliament to extend the presidential term of Macky Sall by extending the presidential elections from February 25 to December 15, 2024, were to be appealed at the Constitutional Council, to maintain its credibility, the Constitutional Council would have no option but to make the same decision that the presidential term limit in Senegal cannot be extended.
The Constitutional Council can only decide otherwise and blatantly contradict itself and violate the Constitution of Senegal if it is a tool for Macky Sall.
What would be interesting is the likely cyclicality of Macky Sall’s enterprise in desperation, where *(1) Macky Sall’s excuse of problematizing the decision by the Constitutional Council on the nomination of presidential candidates, *(2) Macky goes to parliament for parliament to validate Macky’s whims and caprices, through a parliamentary enactment. Still, the constitutional validity of both Macky’s whims and caprices, as well as the parliamentary enactment, are to be subjected to a hearing and ruling by the Constitutional Court in Senegal.
Unfortunately, this is an uncanny game that is not even fit for a primary school courtyard, talk less of a presidency and a national parliament, and the impact of which is on the citizens of Senegal and people in the sub-region.
Clearly, when the presidential office is not used as an office of service but as an office of power, where the occupant of the office thinks that s/he is powerful and ends up abusing the presidential position entrusted to him by her/his fellow citizens, when it is time to leave that position, fear of the consequences of one’s abuses may engulf one’s mind, which may result into wanting to cling onto the presidential position, even through unconstitutional means and further abuse of the position of the presidency.
President Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast reportedly said that he would instead change the two-term presidential limit in Ivory Coast to enable him to contest for a third term rather than go to jail.
*History teaches us that justice may be delayed as long as possible and through many means. However, justice intimately ends up being triumphant!
Consequently, while the proposed extension of Macky Sall’s presidency is likely to be legally challenged by relevant political stakeholders in Senegal, even if the unconstitutional extension of his presidential term were to prevail, the inevitable question is, what next for Macky Sall after an election on December 15, 2024? Or would he come up with another plot to extend his presidency? For long?
How successful would such plot(s) be, that is, if Macky were to want to orchestrate another plot(d) by and after December 25, 3024? Would Macky Sall not continue digging deeper into his political grave by aggravating the disastrous outcomes of his presidency on the Senegalese people in particular and the sub-region in general? In short, such a legacy with the potential of putting one’s country in catastrophic flames is worth living for, let alone fighting for.
Your support means the world to us! Please follow our page to keep up with our latest posts, and don’t forget to hit that like button and share our content with your friends. Thank you for being a part of the OPEN GAMBIA PLATFORM community! Article contributed by [By Abdoulie Jawo, UK] 06/02/ 2024!
You can now write for the Open Gambia Platform and join the community. Please share your stories and opinions by contacting us via WhatsApp or Messenger! @followers
All reactions:
2Ebrima Manjang and 1 other