Senegal: Democracy, But no Checks and Balances

UNCLAS DAKAR 000522

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR AF/W, AF/RSA, DRL AND INR/AA
PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINS KDEM ECON SG
SUBJECT: Senegal: Democracy, But no Checks and Balances


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On April 14, Senegal's National Assembly released
a summary of its 2008 activities. It was reported that the Assembly
passed sixty-eight laws, of which only three were initiated by the
Assembly itself, while all the others by the Executive branch. The
Assembly also passed seven resolutions and set up an inquiry
committee on prohibitive rents in Dakar. Despite Senegal's
reputation as a democracy, the reality is that the National Assembly
is merely a rubberstamp of Executive initiatives that provides no
checks and balances. End Summary

Three bills
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2. (SBU) Senegal's Constitution gives authority to both the
Legislative and the Executive branches to initiate laws. The
Assembly has 150 deputies, and only 17 are from the opposition. In
2008, only three bills were initiated by deputies and even those
three were at the behest of the Executive. The first bill was to
postpone local elections. The other two bills amended the
Constitution to allow President Abdoulaye Wade to reduce the term of
the Chairman of the National Assembly from five years to one so that
he could fire its then-President Macky Sall. The seven resolutions
either congratulated Wade and the GOS on various occasions or
supported Wade in getting rid of Sall.

Lack of expertise
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3. (SBU) The Assembly has one parliamentarian Assistant who works
for the Finance Committee. The Office of Legislative Affairs, that
is the cornerstone of the Assembly in the passing of bills and the
keeping of records, is understaffed with only seven employees. Its
Director wryly told Embassy that this year they were able to examine
68 laws because there were fewer illiterates who became deputies
following the June 2007 legislative elections. In 2006, they were
only able to pass 37 bills for the whole year and none was initiated
by a Member of the Assembly. But rather than illiteracy, he saw the
lack of independence as the most severe constraint of the Assembly.
He also blamed a practice of recruitment on the basis of political
patronage rather than the need of the Assembly. As a very basic
example he gave the case of the "Calots Bleus" (blue berets) who
were members of President Wade's unpaid private militia when he was
in the opposition. Some of these Calot Bleus have been recruited as
cleaners by the National Assembly, but they refuse to perform this
job, which they consider demeaning, nevertheless at the end of each
month they receive their salaries.

Weak Senate
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4. (SBU) In addition to the Assembly, Senegal's recently
reconstituted Senate is even weaker. When he revived this body,
President Wade had claimed that it was needed to add an extra level
of expertise to the creation and review of laws. According to
unconfirmed but well known statistics at least 40 percent of the
Senators are illiterate. The Senate does not have its own premises
and meets at the National Assembly. A professional staff member of
the Assembly told Embassy, "the Senate simply plagiarizes what we do
here, this is why when they hold a meeting the media does not cover
it; it's dj` vu for them." In the public opinion it is common to
hear calls for the elimination of the Senate which has become an
institution that exemplifies all of the financial excesses of the
Wade government.

Comment
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5. (SBU) Both the National Assembly and the Senate are costly and
inefficient; institutions crippled by their lack of independence
from the Executive and a voting system that ensures that a governing
party has a massive majority in both bodies. The statistics for the
past year tend to reinforce that notion. Despite a pledge by some
members of the Assembly that this year would be different, the
opposite has been the case. Furthermore, Senegal's system allows
for deputies to hold multiple positions such as mayors, meaning that
most members are seldom in chambers. Until there is a serious
revision of the powers of the Assembly, especially its relationship
with the Executive, it is doomed to remain an inconsequential body
that acts only when asked to do so by the President
Bernicat