The PDS-Time for a Change

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DAKAR 001541

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/W, AF/RSA, DRL/AE AND INR/AA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/16/2017
TAGS: PGOV PINS SOCI PINR KDEM KISL SG
SUBJECT: The PDS-Time for a Change

CLASSIFIED BY POLITICAL OFFICER OSMAN N. TAT FOR REASONS
1.4 (B) AND (D).

SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) After two very comfortable elections victories
President Wade now feels he has the power to revamp his
Democratic Party of Senegal (PDS). The two main reasons
that are being cited for this restructuring are that he
is preparing a new platform for his son Karim to use as a
springboard to the Presidency and the need to legitimize
the many new party members whom Wade lured after he
became President in 2000. End Summary


2. (SBU) On paper the PDS seems like a well organized
party with a clear hierarchy and institutions. However,
the reality is that power has always been pooled in the
hands of the President and it is becoming increasingly
difficult for him to manage a party that is almost three
times bigger today than it was when he became President
in 2000. Further, the lack of a well established
internal apparatus and central leadership structure that
holds regular elections means that newcomers are being
promoted arbitrarily and extremely fast, while Wade
stalwarts who have been with him since the 1970's are
being relegated to the sidelines. In an interview with
Boubabcar Ba (protect),head of the PDS's Political and
Crisis Communication Office at the Presidency and Wade's
nephew, he said that some local PDS leaders have not had
to face internal elections in over 20 years even though
their mandates ran out fifteen years ago. However, since
these leaders have been with Wade since the beginning the
new generation cannot yet challenge their authority.
This in turn is creating massive tensions between the Old
Guard and younger activists who have now begun squaring
off against each other to secure prominent positions in
the restructured party. Ba emphasized that the party was
still being lead by a "band of friends" who think that
they are the party: "These dinosaurs need to be retired
but with honor. The generation du Concret is made up of
younger new activists who have joined the party since
2000 but have been barred from influencing the internal
dynamics. In fact many people are ready to join the PDS
but not under the current structure." Ba emphasized that
the party's new members are modern Senegalese and include
businessmen, sports stars, successful lawyers and people
who have lived and worked abroad.


3. (SBU) Ba went on to say that two fundamental modes of
operation will be changed: The way the party functions
and the way people are given positions of responsibility.
He also said that the constitution of the party will also
have to be modernized: "The reality is that the PDS is
bloated we must be a party that can respond to both local
and international realities. The men are already in
place and I expect that this restructuring will be
completed before the end of 2008. By the time we are done
the only things that will remain the same are the name,
the motto and the symbols."

Who are our members anyway?
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4. (SBU) Ba exemplified why change was necessary with an
example relating to party membership. He said that
internally it is estimated that the PDS has 1,200,000
members, but because the party lists have not been
refreshed since 1998 it is impossible to give an accurate
figure. In his Dakar suburb of Pikine (Note: the PDS has
divided Pikine into 3 districts) where in 1998 there were
4,200 card carrying PDS members (Note: The PDS does not
charge a membership fee, the card costs a symbolic 100
CFA-about 20 cents) 12,000 people voted for the PDS in
the 2007 Presidential elections.


5. (C) Ba stressed that the party had not really changed
since the last major Congress in 1987. Wade has on
numerous occasions attempted to rebuild the PDS but every
time a project took effect it was halted in its tracks.
However, now that he is President and has become
extremely powerful with total control over every organ of
the State and all of the patronage that that entails few
will dare challenge him. Khalifa Mboup (protect),
Municipal Counselor of Wade's hometown of Kebemer as well
as a member of Karim's generation du Concret, admits that
there is no loyalty in today's PDS and that it's all
about opportunity and self-interest. He adds that many
in the PDS are beholden to the President and that he is
surrounded by too many yes-men who do whatever he wants.
By restructuring the party he puts the counter back to
zero and he can start over with a new team.


DAKAR 00001541 002 OF 002


The Old Guard, Legitimacy and Karim
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6. (C) Mboup, argues that a renovation is needed because
there are too many people in the party who are not
considered to be "legitimate" members of the PDS because
they migrated over after Wade became President in 2000.
They were lured in to neutralize the opposition and thus
are seen by the party faithful as being "transhumain" or
"political nomads". However, while these newcomers are
defectors from other parties and do not share Wade's
liberal ideology some have been in the PDS for over seven
years. He goes on to say that additionally up until now
Wade had to always form coalitions to remain in power and
that this has diluted his ability to run the government.
After the restructuring Wade hopes to unite all these
disparate voice under one umbrella and start anew where
there will not be an old guard, or a new guard. Everybody
will be members of a brand new formation. Ba similarly
argues that the "immigrant cacophony" of these nomads in
the party are holding the country and the party hostage
and that internal groups such as the Cap 21 (a Left
leaning organization within the PDS) are in a constant
fight against more liberal groupings who are trying to
pull the party to the Right.


7. (C) Cheikh Bamba Dieye, a prominent opposition Member
of Parliament, dismisses all this talk of restructuring
and renaissance as a smokescreen arguing that Wade's sole
objective is to eliminate senior PDS leaders to open the
way for his son to succeed him: "This is just a matter of
self-preservation." Further, it is very important to
avoid a situation where Karim ends up leading a party
that is chock full of old timers who have a legitimate
claim on power. Mboup voiced a similar point saying that
this will undermine Karim's power and ability to lead the
party.

Comment
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8. (C) While it is true that the PDS has become too
bloated to manage and that there are many within the
party who are only there to be close to power, the
reality is that Wade's primary objective is create an
organization that his son can lead. At the moment Karim
has stayed in the background as his father orchestrates
the sanitization of the PDS. With the appointment of a
technocratic government and the exile of many former
Ministers to the National Assembly and the Senate Wade
has already significantly weakened the field of potential
opposition to Karim. He has also insured that
challengers neither have the means nor the forum to
remain in the public consciousness. Karim's upcoming trip
to Touba where he will inspect various projects and
meet with the Mouride leadership, looks like the first
step of his coming out party.

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

Smith