A WALK THROUGH DAKAR: THE PEOPLE SPEAK

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DAKAR 001136

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/W, AF/RSA, DRL/AE AND INR/AA
PARIS FOR POL - D,ELIA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/23/2017
TAGS: PGOV PINS SOCI PHUM PINR KDEM KISL SG
SUBJECT: A WALK THROUGH DAKAR: THE PEOPLE SPEAK

Classified By: POLITICAL OFFICER OSMAN N. TAT FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (
D).

SUMMARY
--------------

1. (C) A pre-election walk through Dakar,s vibrant Medina
district and the city,s principal domestic bus station
revealed five themes on the minds of the populace. It is the
duty of every citizen to vote; the opposition boycott is
ill-conceived and undermines Senegal,s democracy; the cost
of living is crushingly high; President Wade is imperfect but
doing a good job; and the National Assembly is ineffective.
END SUMMARY.

MEDINA AND THE BUS STATION
--------------

2. (SBU) Medina is a vibrant but poor borough located next
to Dakar,s Plateau district. The street that Poloff and Pol
FSN walked down is about a kilometer long and features small
ramshackle businesses, hardware stores, carpentry shops,
restaurants, and street-side laundromats where groups of
women hand-wash clothes in plastic bins and residences. The
second site is Dakar,s principal bus station from where
buses leave for the country,s interior.

ELOQUENCE, FATALISM AND PHILOSOPHY
--------------

3. (SBU) Poloff and Pol FSN interviewed a dynamic
cross-section of people aimed at gauging the public,s
interest and concerns prior to the June 3 legislative
election. This walk revealed a very well informed public
with strong political opinions and, above all, a pride in
Senegal,s democratic tradition. All interviewees were frank
in their views, hospitable and quick to invite us into their
homes or to sit down on their benches to wax eloquent and
philosophical about their and the country,s situation. One
female head of household, whose polygamous husband is living
with his two other wives while she lives with her aging
mother and the rest of the family,s female population,
compared Senegal,s political scene to the fingers of a hand,
saying that while each finger might be of different lengths
they all make up the same hand. In her well-appointed living
room off a courtyard-style house she unconsciously gave a
sense of fatalism whose roots are deeply lodged in Senegal,s
syncretic Islam. Underlining that it is vital to accept the
cards one is dealt in life, she, and many other we
interviewed, said that in the end God is the ultimate judge
of people,s behavior -- this in answer to whether or not the
deputies in the National Assembly are effective or not.

A CITIZEN MUST VOTE
--------------

4. (SBU) Of the 50 plus people interviewed every one
underscored the importance of voting, saying that this is the
duty of a citizen in a democracy. When asked whether or not
these elections were important to them, many people
acknowledged the weakness of the National Assembly as an
institution but said that they would vote anyhow. Almost
every person interviewed also voted in the February 25
presidential election and coupled the two elections together
by saying that voting in one and not the other did not make
much sense.

THE OPPOSITION IS MISGUIDED
--------------

5. (C) Just about every interviewee forcefully dismissed the
boycott as infantile and said that they and their extended
families would be at the polls on June 3. Many citizens,
including those who identified themselves as Socialists,
admitted to not really having an idea as to why the
opposition had decided to boycott the elections. Some
speculated that they were sore losers and did not want to be
humiliated by Wade again, while others went as far as
accusing the opposition of sabotaging and destroying
Senegal,s democracy. An elderly gentleman, who was at first
reluctant to talk, saying that his time was better spent in
prayer, said that the boycotters should stop complaining:
&You must do your part, otherwise the system won,t
function8. This same sentiment was echoed by the owner of a
carpentry shop who said: &The boycott is bad, there needs to
be balance in the parliament, even one opposition deputy is
better than none8.

THE COST OF LIVING IS KILLING US
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6. (SBU) Rising prices for basic staples such as rice,
cooking oils, fuel, water and electricity, as well as jobs
are at the forefront of the electorate,s mind. At the bus
station one eloquent young man from Kaolack said in fluent
French that he realized his was not a real job (NOTE: He is

DAKAR 00001136 002 OF 002


working as a jack-of-all-trades at the depot doing whatever
work is available. END NOTE.),but that life was hard and he
had no other choice if he wanted to survive. He then added
that his dream is to &immigrate to Canada.8 In a similar
message a local fruit seller informed us that he had only
sold 2 apples, 1 kilo of bananas and a few cigarettes in the
six hours since he had opened his stand at what looked like a
well located position. He said that people just do not have
the money to spend. In fact, every single person who we
interviewed repeated that their chief concern is the cost of
living.

WADE IS GREAT
--------------

7. (C) We heard, &Wade is Working;8 &Il Est un Grand
Ouvrier8 (he is a great worker); &Things Have Changed for
the Better;8 and &He is compassionate, tolerant8. Like
slogans from a political campaign, people had only praise for
Wade, saying that despite his faults, he has the good of
Senegal at heart and that it is his entourage that is
dysfunctional. Equally revealing, most people who will vote
for Wade,s Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) admitted that
they are actually voting for him and not his party. A Shell
gas attendant said the differences are obvious if you compare
Wade,s tenure with the previous socialist regimes. Looking
around him he said, &None of these things were here before
Wade: that bridge, that road, and these buildings you see.8

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY: USELESS!
--------------

8. (C) Without a doubt the National Assembly will be the big
looser in this election. While everybody said they will
vote, they will do so more out of civic duty than enthusiasm
for the institution for which they are casting their votes.
Most people are looking to hand President Wade a majority so
that he can finish the work that he has begun. Words such as
&corrupt8, &dysfunctional8, and &useless8 were often
used to describe the legislature.

COMMENT
--------------

9. (C) The people,s faith in Senegal,s Executive Branch
remains strong, and there is general respect for Wade and
what he is trying to do for the country. If one is to make a
projection from these interviews, the opposition has
seriously miscalculated and is in trouble, as by and large
the people will vote on June 3. Yet, they are not voting
because they particularly care about the National Assembly,
but are doing so because as citizens in a democracy they see
this as their right and duty. This sense of citizenry bodes
well for the future of Senegal,s democracy and yet in the
same breath it can also be said that the apathy that
surrounds the National Assembly as an institution equally
threatens Senegal,s democratic tradition -- a tradition that
people are very proud to uphold. END COMMENT.


10. (U) Visit Embassy Dakar,s SIPRNET website at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/af/dakar.
JACOBS