Senegalese Government Cripples Opposition Mayors

UNCLAS DAKAR 000643

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: Senegalese Government Cripples Opposition Mayors


1. (SBU) Summary: On April 28, the Cabinet presented a draft law to
the National Assembly to amend the Urban Code to allow the State to
forgo the need to have local mayors countersign construction or
building projects in their administrative zones. The Minister of
Urban Affairs will be given that power. This law seems to target
the ambitious Socialist Mayor of Dakar, Khalifa Sall, who said he
intends to investigate a slew of corrupt construction projects that
the last administration had been involved in. End Summary.

GOS takes power back
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2. (SBU) The new law will amend Article 68 of the Urban Code that
was just promulgated in August 2008. Article 68 states "An
authorization is required for any construction or renovation of
buildings located in the administrative territory of local
governments." Article 70 of the same Code stipulates that it is the
Mayors and the Presidents of rural communities, i.e. locally elected
officials, who have the power to give such authorizations. Since
losing a large number of major cities to the opposition in recently
concluded local elections, the government blatantly wants to limit
the ability of these mayors to interfere or stop various pet
government construction projects. Consequently article 68 of the
Urban Code will have the following provision added to it, "For
State, Public Services, those entrusted with the conduct of a public
service, and all projects considered to be of public utility, the
compulsory administrative authorization for these works shall be
given by the Minister in charge of Urban Affairs".

Hostilities begin
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3. (SBU) This change in the law is a clear indication that the
central government is not going to play nice with the opposition
mayors. By including a provision on "projects deemed of public
utility", the government has an open-ended weapon to employ against
local officials who rely on central government subsidies to support
most of their public utility projects. A ruling party leader, who
until his party's defeat was Deputy Mayor of Dakar, told Embassy
that the new Mayor will soon realize that his hands are totally
tied. He noted that although the City of Dakar has a projected
budget of 34 billion CFA (68 million USD),Mayor Sall will be lucky
if he can get anywhere near that amount because it is the central
government that collects most of the taxes for the city and they do
not have enough personnel to do so. The former Deputy Mayor scoffed
at a plan by Mayor Sall to give one billion CFA to each of the 19
local governments under his jurisdiction. He said with a payroll of
7 billion CFA plus a grant of 2 billion CFA mandated by law that he
must distribute to the aforementioned 19 local governments plus
maintenance costs of about 3 billion CFA plus other operating costs
such as public lights, Sall will find that he has very little room
to maneuver. He further commented that the city of Dakar has about
3,000 employees, and that Mayor Sall cannot escape the pressure of
recruiting his political backers who expect jobs from him. This
client system explains why there are so many people on the city's
payroll who have no real duties or responsibilities.

COMMENT
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4. (SBU) This amendment is a step back in Senegal's long drawn
out decentralization process. The March 22 local election placed
many new mayors at the head of Senegal's major cities; new mayors
who will use their positions to challenge the ruling party for
political supremacy in the run-up to the 2012 presidential
elections. Yet, in the near term, the government's use of strong
arm tactics such as withholding funds from cities that desperately
need money just to meet the people's most basic needs means that the
only people who are really going to suffer as the government and the
opposition duke it out are the Senegalese people.

Bernicat