GP: Senegal's Prez Breaks Travel Record

Guest Post: Mouhammad from Senegal

After one year of governance, the expectations are still high for Senegalse president, S.E. Mr. Macky Sall. His first year as a president was characterized by a crisis despite his efforts against inflation. He is also very popular for putting on trial authorities from the previous regime for illicit accumulation of wealth. Indeed, upon election, Macky Sall confessed that nothing was left of the State’s budget, that the previous regime had emptied all the accounts.

President Macky Sall

Two weeks after his inauguration, Macky Sall flew with his presidential aircraft to Paris: “to sustain the relationships between France and Senegal but also to seek aid.” What the Senegalese saw as a promising beginning might have been the symptoms of Macky’s love for traveling. Not even a term after his election, the president decided to go on holidays and was convinced of the need to fly all the way to South Africa to find rest.  In fact, between March 2012 and March 2013, Mr. Macky Sall traveled 23 times, filling the shoes of his predecessor and nearly breaking president Obama’s personal record of 25 international trips in 2009.

It is not a surprise to the Senegalese population that Mr. Sall’s decisions spark controversy at such an early stage. His candidacy itself was controversial as he was once Abdoulaye Wade’s prime minister. However, until further notice, traveling this many times while claiming to be given insufficient resources and when the country is in middle of a crisis is the ‘best’ the president has done so far.

Random Mouhammad Thoughts: I find it quite ironic that Macky Sall, who was Abdoulaye Wade’s prime minister and took part in the corrupt activities or at least witnessed them, can stand today and claim that he will bring to justice to anybody involved with such activities. I personally think Macky Sall is using this scandal to cover the lack of results since his election. It is sad that the Senegalese population never elected a president for his competences and projects but always voted to overthrow the previous regime (2000, 2012). Macky Sall in spite of his lack of aspirations for the country was voted for by the population. I hope he will come up with interesting projects –which he has not done yet- and carry them out successfully.