SENEGAL,S SENATE RETURNS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DAKAR 001283 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/W, AF/RSA, DRL/AE AND INR/AA PARIS FOR POL - D'ELIA E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/14/2017 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR KDEM SG SUBJECT: SENEGAL,S SENATE RETURNS Classified By: ACTING POLITICAL COUNSELOR OSMAN N. TAT FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) On February 12, 2007 the National Assembly passed a law to revive a Senate that in 2001 President Wade had declared unnecessary. With legislative elections over, questions are rife as to why. Six factors seem to have influenced Wade: Creating a power base for his son Karim, consolidating power over his party; controlling the National Assembly; controlling patronage; history and a passion to be remembered as a creator and builder. Another topic is whom Wade will appoint as President of the Senate as this person is second in line to the Presidency. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) For months newspapers and magazines have been daily printing article and opinions as to whom will succeed the aging Abdoulaye Wade. A key component of this discussion is the Senate, as the President of the Senate is now legally second in line to succeed Wade in the event of his untimely death. In a recent interview presidential cousin and Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) parliamentary group chair Doudou Wade defended the Senate saying that a bicameral system is more democratic as it allows one chamber to &more deeply8 review laws. He then went on to defend the fact that Wade will be appointing 65 of the 100 Senators, saying that elections sometimes create disequilibrium and that not all of the country,s interests are represented. Thus, he maintains, under this system disequilibrium can be rectified by the head of state who will appoint a wide ranging constituency to take in those people and interests who might have been disenfranchised during an election. Not surprisingly Doudou Wade, a strong supporter of First Son Karim, is now one of the leading contenders for the Presidency of the Senate as he is seen to be one of PDS, most malleable and loyal members. IT,S ALL ABOUT KARIM -------------- ¶3. (C) During a round table discussion with leading opposition figures the consensus was that Wade created the Senate to shore up support for his son. Ms. Rahmet Sow, businesswoman and spokesperson for the small but vocal Jef Jel party, said that the Senate is a key patronage tool for Wade. As the size of the State grows, Wade needs an institution where he can send supporters and enemies alike. Supporters for a job well done; enemies to neutralize them. According to Sow, Karim is slowly being pushed into the consciousness of the Senegalese people. As head of the organizing committee for the March 2008 Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) summit in Dakar, he is in charge of revamping the city. He has also been President Wade,s point man on relations with Arab investors and institutions and thus has access to significant amounts of money. Ms. Sow argues that Wade is creating for his son an image of the &new man8 on the block and that those who support him will stay and those who do not will slowly be pushed out -- to the Senate. After this process, Karim will emerge as man who has strong ties to Arab money, the support of the Islamic community and the Mouride Brotherhood and as someone who has &concrete8 success in building his father,s vision of a new city. The fact that Karim,s face already emblazons signs all over Dakar hailing the &generation du Concret8 (The Generation of Substance) seems to support this theory. SURE MAYBE -- BUT HE MAY TRY SOMETHING MORE DIRECT -------------- -------------- ¶4. (C) Ibrahima Sene, Politburo member of the Party for Independence and Labor, whose President Amath Dansokho is the leader of the election boycotting Front Siggil Senegal, posits a far more direct approach. In an interview he gave to &Le Matin,8 an independent Dakar daily, he argued that Wade is planning to have future presidents elected not by the people but by a simple majority vote in the National Assembly and the Senate. He contends that he cannot think of any other reasons why the Wade would revive the Senate when the National Assembly is already moribund and ineffectual. He believes that Wade will choose a party hack to be President of the Senate, then resign and maneuver to have his son voted in as President by a National Assembly where the PDS controls 131 out of 150 seats, and a Senate where 65 out of 100 Senators will owe their allegiance to him. HE CONTROLS THE PDS, THE ELITE AND THE ASSEMBLY -------------- -- ¶5. (C) Ismail Madior Fall, one of Senegal,s leading constitutional experts, argues that the Senate further increases the executive,s power to the detriment of the DAKAR 00001283 002 OF 002 legislative and judicial branches. Fall argues that for Wade the Senate offers three distinct advantages. It allows him to totally control his PDS; a party that is held together more by patronage than ideology and which may not survive Wade even if his son becomes President. It gives the political elite somewhere to go; the Cabinet already has 44 ministers and the number of Embassies has grown significantly during Wade,s tenure. The Senate thus becomes a patronage venue. It gives him even more control over the National Assembly. While the Assembly is weak, Wade does not want to leave anything to chance. ¶6. (C) In describing Wade,s thought processes, Famara Sarr, an opposition member in the last Assembly, quoted Wade,s current Interior Minister who famously commented of Wade: &He thinks like a democrat but acts like an autocrat.8 Sarr, a leading light of Senegal,s left, contends that Wade is only interested in democracy as an instrument to give him more power. He further argues that either the installation of Karim as President or a weak legislative branch means that it will give his family a guarantee that members will not be prosecuted once he dies or retires. ¶7. (C) Abdoulaye Drame, a PDS Member of the previous parliament and potential future Senator, confirmed that the PDS, and in some respects, Senegal is facing a massive internal battle as Wade concentrates on his succession. He observed that the PDS is not a party where truth is tolerated and that its gut reaction is to control everybody within its orbit: &If there is anger within the ranks no one will express it because Wade controls all of the positions of power. If you cross him, you will be tossed aside. No one wants to risk this. A realignment is very possible, even the emergence of a new party focused around Karim and supported by the Senate and a pliant National Assembly.8 He added that money, favors and patronage are the dominant factors of Senegalese politics and that Wade,s supporters are fully aware that he is generous to those who back him. HISTORY AND LEGACY -------------- ¶8. (SBU) In 1974 Wade declared that he would set up a Senate if elected President. Now, history has come full circle and the man who disbanded the Senate has once again revived it. It is well known Wade is very conscious of his country,s internal sense of history and his own legacy. The people do see Wade as a builder and architect and his Senate pales next to his more ambitious plans to build a new Dakar, a new airport and a brand new capital. Wade is a man who is looking to leave a legacy and in that context a Senate and perhaps a son as President should come as no surprise. COMMENT -------------- ¶9. (C) For a country as small as Senegal, there is no justification for a Senate which will be little more than a drain on an already stretched budget. Furthermore, the Senate,s role in the law-making process and its profile vis-a-vis the National Assembly remain unclear. The body will not be a counter-weight against the PDS, which is a group of politicians united by the love of money and power rather than ideology. Wade is a master at dividing and conquering, and the Senate is just another tool that allows him to control everything around him. In the event that Karim does emerge, he will have a bastion of support from a Senate that his father has molded exactly for that purpose. It will be his power base through which he will fend off any internal PDS attacks that may be launched by longtime loyalist who are unhappy with his meteoric rise. END COMMENT. ¶10. (U) Visit Embassy Dakar,s SIPRNET Web site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/af/dakar. JACOBS