Here we are. Monday, January 12, 2026. Senegal wakes up from a weekend full of promise and paradoxes. With the Lions of Teranga, at the AFCON Morocco 2025, who will go to the semi-final next Wednesday against our 'good customer' Egypt (whom we have beaten twice in encounters with decisive footballing stakes, which is a justified reason to hope to see our Lions reach the AFCON final and lift the Cup, kaar kaar…) and Gaïndés who re-enchant the national narrative of a dream of collective victory and shared glory.

Furthermore, we are being told, in every possible way, about the new sovereignist and left-wing pan-Africanist Senegal, which is resistant to restructuring any national debt, hidden or not hidden, and which refuses once again to respond to the dictates of these (presumed) 'cosmopolitan and deviant globalists' of the IMF!

We are shown inherited high-speed trains, equally inherited overpasses, and promising (?) diplomatic summits in the Emirates and other petro-monarchies, where people kiss in Mao-collar suits or Indonesian boubous with African hats.

It's beautiful, it's clean, it shines in the January sunshine, and it gives us hope that we'll manage without the IMF in 2026, and not just by borrowing on the WAEMU regional financial market to pay civil servants' salaries; but also by securing massive financing for investments, infrastructure, urban and inter-urban mobility, and support for the continued development of a strong private sector made up of SMEs and industries becoming true national economic champions and conquering markets in neighboring and more distant countries, both within ECOWAS and WAEMU, and why not beyond. Senegalese SMEs and industries supported to process all our raw materials locally in order to extract the real financial added value, which can be exponential. SMEs and industries creating distinctive brands and labels, guarantees of quality, which will also allow us to gain productivity and experience a real industrialization boom.

Let's be clear: this will first require the complete settlement of the domestic debt that our State owes to its national private sector.

We have this unfortunate habit, as far as I'm concerned – inherited from our "very good right wing," although left-leaning – of looking under the rug. And what we see is a sovereignist, pan-Africanist left in state power (which we support) that seems to be running out of steam to implement a truly effective mix of social and developmental policies, in what remains, in our eyes, a grand spectacle of tropicalized neoliberalism, which we will struggle to replace with a generalized tax of 1% on bread purchases.

Before 2024, we built infrastructure for the future, but with whose money? The money of our children who, for now, are still learning in temporary shelters when the wind blows too hard. We must, of course, take responsibility for Macky Sall's fiscal, budgetary, and debt liabilities. But we must also contribute the assets of Diomaye mooy Sonko (or Diomaye nekkatoul Sonko?), and build our own projects and infrastructure for this first term, this 'Diomayat' of the new regime, which is no longer brand new.

Because, in two months, in March 2026, we will be halfway through the term of office for President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, the year 2028 which is a year of permanent and electrified election campaigning cannot be taken into account in the calculation of the current presidential term.

A rebranded and revamped Senegal isn't just about attracting foreign investors. Senegal's true earthly nirvana is when a resident of Keur Mbaye Fall can take the regional train (TER) without sacrificing their evening meal. It's when a farmer in Casamance can sell their produce without seeing it rot on the side of a brand-new national highway that's too expensive for transporters.

We are told that Senegal is on the launchpad. Very well. But don't linger too long on the tarmac before takeoff, gentlemen of the government. Furthermore, as you know, a successful takeoff will require that the entire crew, now "pastefized," remain on board, as well as all of us passengers, not just those in first class who (even they!) no longer have access to free Wi-Fi on board.

This morning's editorial (and it's early!) is a call to remain alert with all our senses, for all those who are, as they say, 'in charge'. Those responsible for managing this country and positively influencing its economic trajectory and its path towards sustainable and inclusive development.

The Systemic Transformation Agenda Vision Senegal 2050 should not be a spectacle of endogeneity and African authenticity in everything for the scrutinizing eyes of the rest of the world and with new taxes for all the populace, including on the purchase of gigabits of Internet connections (Gentlemen of the government, access to the Internet, to Facebook, to Tik Tok and to Instagram is now part of Human Rights!), but it should be a full and 'fishy' midday bowl for all the stomachs of our people, with regular variations at dinner towards chicken vermicelli or meat stew with bread.

So yes, let's be sovereign. Let's be proud. But let's remain a little bit irreverent. Because in the land of Teranga, the greatest wealth will never be the oil or gas lying dormant beneath our shores, but the ability of this people to always demand accountability with a smile, all while preparing the best Tièp in the world. A Tièp where, from now on and for a long time to come (and quickly!), everyone will have the right to thiof, beuggeudj, soouul, khoogne, and mathiaate: a happy combination of the national dish, as our friend from the French West Indies and 'hermano de siempre', the writer and journalist Elgas, never fails to point out.

Seckènes and Diawènes, I forgive you in advance: you will be able to eat first.

Ousseynou Nar Gueye, journalist and communications professional