Pour une République plus forte que les hommes: « La démocratie se fortifie dans le respect de l’ordre constitutionnel » (Par Papa Macoumba Gaye)
The current concern stems less from angry rhetoric fueled by emotional mobilization than from the deafening silence of the elites. Few voices have been raised in the face of the accumulation of worrying signs: the public and ultimately unsuccessful questioning of magistrates by authorities, the challenges to the president's decisions by members of his own party, or, more seriously, the appearance of symbols of a political party at
sides of the national flag in a protocol sequence outside the country.
We have thus witnessed the rise of a single-party state that has become both power and opposition. We are now bearing the brunt of its excesses. The dissension between its two main leaders was enough to bring the country to its knees. This is also what experienced men feared: the will to rebuild, the fervor, or the desire to
Sovereignty alone is not enough to govern a Republic. And these qualities, useful at times, are worthless when the institutions falter.
We must be clear-sighted. The future of our country is growing bleak. The economy will not recover in three years, our institutions are weakened, and peace is threatened. And the immediate risks of worsening the situation are emerging. They take the form of a constitutional challenge against the reinstatement of a member of parliament who has thus become the second most powerful figure in the state, his removal from the head of the institution, and likely motions of censure.
iterative and, who knows, hypothetical indictment of high authority; or more simply, social and financial scandals against a backdrop of rivalries.
The violence we have learned to endure is drawing near. God forbid!
In any case, it is utterly impossible to maintain a country in a state of institutional instability or permanent insurrection. The rule of law always prevails. But what happens when those who legislate, falling far short of expectations, become entangled in internal squabbles, in villainy and deceitfulness? We then pay, at its always excessive price, for the duality at the highest levels of power, the negligence of the honorable, and the culpable silence of the elites.
It could be admitted that beyond the amplified expression of egos, this deleterious situation is linked to the amnesty law voted in the turmoil of the last presidential election.
Shouldn't the first step have been to establish responsibility, condemn the crimes that threatened national security, and only then forgive in order to move forward? The boundaries that must not be crossed with the Republic would then have been definitively established. But the moment lent itself to a discourse of peace. And some well-meaning individuals had praised the responsible framework for expressing the popular will.
Alongside this, the lesson taught by the wise members of the Constitutional Council, who opposed postponing the elections, could serve as a guide for protecting our institutions. Recent political developments remind us that republican ethics are also comprised of absolute rules that the fundamental law does not explicitly state. They depend on the foresight and virtue of those who uphold them, first and foremost among them...
the presidential institution.
This is why we are exercising our civic freedom to offer a dispassionate reflection on the possibility of a constitutional referendum. Not to satisfy short-term interests, but to examine whether our institutional pact remains fully suited to the needs of the Senegal that is being built before our very eyes. This reflection should be that of a nation committed to bequeathing to its children stronger, more transparent institutions, better equipped to withstand the upheavals of history.
So, after the time for debate and sovereign choices, what will remain essential is building a nation aware that democracy is not limited to the expression of the popular will, but also rests on the strength of the mechanisms that guarantee its continuity.
And perhaps we will do so, like republican Sisyphuses, in this never-ending effort to raise a country to the level of its hopes.
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