Leader of the Liberian delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe Jr. has advised the President of Senegal, H. E. Macky Sall to do the right thing to save his integrity, political and democratic credentials of his Country in the wake of the change of date for the Presidential election from February 25, 2024, to December 15, 2024, by the National Assembly.
According to him, he hopes the president would listen to the will of the people because the pronouncement by the parliament has resulted in chaotic situations in Senegal with massive demonstrations, resulting in a very fragile security situation in the country at the moment.
“So we hope the president would put Senegal first and take the right decisions because he is being held in high esteem; he led a group of West African leaders to Russia to talk to President Putin on the war between Ukraine and Russia”. So to allow his actions to invite chaos to his country does not speak well of his reputation.
Senator Edwin Snowe Jr in a telephone interview said President Macky Sall has been chair of the AU as head of state and brought a lot of respect to the West African sub-region.
Snowe Jr pointed out his disappointment at the political situation in Senegal; adding that even in the last summit of Authority of Heads of State and Government, they commended Sall for not seeking a third term and they were hoping for a free and fair presidential election only to see the president’s interference.
By using the National Assembly to postpone the election is quite unfortunate. “As a statesman, what President Macky Sall has done, does not speak well of him and does not speak well for the democracy in the sub-region and of them as a nation.”
Senegal conducted a successful parliamentary election with the opposition taking the lead in the parliament, and everyone thought the parliament would have been most stable in enhancing the democratic credentials of Senegal. Unfortunately, it’s the same parliament that has voted to extend the elections to December that is most shocking, he said.
“Also most of the problems we have had in the sub-region has either come from the parliament or the judiciary aiding the wrong decision of the Executive arm of government”, he lamented.
The Chairman of the Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) of ECOWAS Parliament revealed that Parliament intends to engage the Senegal National Assembly to let them know that they have brought democratic uncertainty to the democratic situation in that Country.
And if they can do anything to have a national dialogue or recall the vote that extending the election time to give a solution to this problem. “This is because, Senegal is the only country in the sub-region that has not experienced coup and we all have been looking forward to Senegal to maintaining that process.”
“What is happening is inviting chaos and you know sometime the military and security take advantage of those vacuum that is created through political situations just as the one taking place in Senegal.
By Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Sierra Leone