Whom can you call when the authorities are the ones breaking the law?

Dame G
Dame G
Aug 27, 2017 · 5 min read

This is yet another no-holds barred, take-no-prisoners, candid assessment of the cross-Atlantic feud that pits Macky Sall with the entire apparatus of the Senegalese government behind him, and a lone Woolf immigrant whom they perceive to be a threat. To wit: Assane Diouf.

Granted that this is bigger than either Macky Sall or Assane Diouf. But their ongoing kurfuffle offers a glimpse into how far they are willing to go to silence any critics- local or expat who may think that they are beyond reach. It also provides a prism through which one can see the bigger picture and candidly assess what’s at stake. Speaking of stakes, one can quickly surmise that they are so low because the politics are so nasty and vicious and therefore not worth spilling a drop of ink on. But that would be a major cop-out. So, We will dig deeper and analyze everything.

One reason why the current state of affairs in Senegal is so transfixing to watch despite the fact one can get manic depressive trying to follow it, is that it has all the tentacles of taking the citizenry back to the “old days” (code phrase for subservience). It also has the potential of upending any semblance of democratic norms, the defiance of taboos and the destabilization and desecration of what’s left of people’s pride and joy and a government seemingly willing to trample all over them. It’s a mess of the highest order and that’s being charitable.

While not a kill zone yet, Senegal has definitely morphed into a country whereby school seems out everywhere (literally and figuratively) and forever. In practice this means that there is a serious deficit of accountability. No checks on presidential authorities whatsoever. It’s one of those “democratic Republics” where the dully elected president enjoys absolute power. See the glaring contradiction? Yep, therein lies the problem.

The rule of law

The rule of law seems to apply only to the huddled masses and suspended for those in the president’s inner circle, those in his good graces or under his Christmas tree. A select few who roam the corridors of power often live by the mantra of anything goes. So long they walk the walk, talk the talk and preach to the choir, they can maintain their lifetime memberships of the so-called money and power class. It’s a gospel of ONE and ONE only. Everybody bows down to your HIGHNESS. No exception.

To be perfectly honest and fair, this button down hierarchical power structure preceded Macky Sall. He is not the one who invented the concept but to a certain extent, perfected it (every president before him did) In other words, he is just riding the honey badger much the same way his predecessors did. Anyone who nods in agreement with him can ride along. Anyone who dares cross him can quickly find him/herself at the mercy of his whims. Things were never meant to be this way.

Most observers agree that the current arrangement in Senegal serves as a reminder to all of us of the fleetingness of power, but also the ironical, wackadoo nature of the all the state operators. This is very hard to miss but often overlooked by a citizenry totally oblivious to its civil rights and liberties.

Most of these actors swim in narcissism and often make a nice “living” quibbling. Their whole modus operandi is about self-aggrandizement, if not down right self-preservation. Everyone’s in it for him/herself. The country itself be damn.

Most Senegalese in position of “power” adhere to a simian dominance code wherein every human interaction is a preset zero-sum contest in which only the alpha (President in this case) prevails. His word is gospel and final on everything and never to be challenged.

But the level of candor and violence (physical & verbal) being perpetrated against the citizenry stuns even those of us that have become increasingly inured to the unorthodoxy of the “Republic-Dictatorship arrangement”. It’s beyond unacceptable.

Most of these guys (yes they are often dudes) seem to grow a fake volatile temper to go with their vindictive streaks. Everyone who dares talk bad (exercise freedom of speech) about them and their inner circles becomes public enemy numero uno and winds up in their crosshairs marked to be dealt with at a later date with impunity. Why? because they serve the president. Go figure!!

Among president Sall cadre of hangers-on, Babacar Diagne (the Senegalese Ambassador to the US) seems to occupy a unique place because of his willingness to play the beta role (to an Alpha president) and genuflect before the President the same way he did for all of his 3 other predecessors. The guy (Ambassador Diagne) knows how to play the field. He survived every president who appointed him because of his relative mastery of subservience. But this this time he went too far in his quest to please your “highness”. He stepped out of bounds, overreached and did so at the expense of life, liberty and the right to free speech which, as a trio, form the bedrock of democratic principles everywhere.

If the rumors of his role in securing the arrest and subsequent deportation of Assane Diouf from the US under the pretense and pretext of some made up terrorism excuse are true, then he single handedly managed to change the meaning of the aphorism: “if you need a friend in Washington, get a dog” to “if you need someone to do your dirty work, find a willing diplomat whose morale compass points south.”

Again if the rumors are true, Mr Diagne K-9 subservience to President Sall is indeed worrisome and nothing more than a ploy to solidify his droit-du-seigneur access to your highness good graces.

Mad as Hell and We are not going to take it anymore

Plenty of experience has taught us that it is very difficult even verging on the realm of impossibility to maintain civil discourse at any level. But plenty of evidence also exists that the public is fed up with the bickering and recrimination.

The way forward

Democracy is necessary but never never sufficient. You have to add to it Liberty, freedom of speech, religion, press etc…all missing components from the versions offered by these young, and aspiring African democracies.

Seems to me that the kingdom has bigger issues than we thought.

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