On Wednesday, February 19, 2025, the President of the Republic, His Excellency Mr. Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye, presided over the weekly Council of Ministers meeting at the Presidential Palace.
At the start of his communication, the President expressed his deepest condolences to the Khalif General of the Mourides and the Muslim community following the passing of the Khalif General of the Baye Fall, Serigne Amdy Modou Mbenda Fall, and Serigne Moustapha Saliou Mbacke, son of the late Khalif General of the Mourides, Serigne Saliou Mbacke.
Discussing the insights and analyses from the public finance audit conducted by the Court of Auditors, the President called for urgent conjunctural and structural measures to strengthen the resilience and credibility of our economic, budgetary, financial, and accounting systems.
He instructed the Prime Minister to propose a timeline for implementing all recommendations of the audit report by the Court of Auditors and to submit, as soon as possible, a special program for controlling public expenditure, considering the short and medium-term economic and social imperatives dictated by the "Senegal 2050" vision.
The President stressed the importance of effectively managing the state's budget programs, financing plans, and treasury for the next three years, as well as tax expenditures and public debt. On this last point, he requested the Minister of Finance and Budget and the Minister in charge of the Economy to propose, under the coordination of the Prime Minister, a new regulation on the conditions and modalities of issuing state loans and a new organizational framework for managing and piloting public debt.
The Prime Minister will also ensure the rapid preparation of a supplementary finance bill by the Minister of Finance and Budget in anticipation of the budget orientation debate. Furthermore, the President indicated the urgency for the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and Budget, and the Minister of Economy, Planning, and Cooperation to:
Ensure the integrity of financial information in terms of reliability, completeness, accuracy, and sincerity;
Accelerate the digitization and interoperability of the state's economic, financial, and accounting information systems;
Strengthen the supervision of the macroeconomic framework process;
Improve the three-year consensual planning of public investments financed by both external and internal resources and public-private partnerships.
He pointed out that the situation of assumed truth is an opportunity to engage in an objective and profound transformation of the state's economic, financial, and accounting administrations and their interrelations with partners and the financial system. He called for a true paradigm shift in the administrative, economic, financial, and accounting governance of the state.
Additionally, the President of the Republic instructed the Prime Minister to engage in consultations with all the nation's vital forces, including trade unions, the national private sector, and employers, to precisely share the consequences of the described situation and to find suitable consensus for the sustainable implementation of the new agenda for public finance management, in solidarity and social protection for vulnerable groups.
Access to potable water for the population, particularly in rural areas, must remain a government priority. Therefore, the President of the Republic invited the Prime Minister to continue efforts to improve access to drinking water for the population at controlled costs.
He praised the recent national consultations on the water sector and called for the acceleration of the implementation of a comprehensive action plan aimed at securing the resource and deploying a national hydraulic scheme that will eventually integrate all water supply systems in urban, peri-urban, and rural areas. Consequently, he asked the Minister of Hydraulics and Sanitation to revise the management framework for public water supply delegations in rural areas and to strengthen the maintenance and renewal of boreholes and hydraulic infrastructure.
The Minister in charge of Hydraulics will also ensure transparency regarding service pricing and concession management. In the dynamics of the development and realization of "water highways," the government must anticipate the reflection on the economic model of the sector covering the sanitation component (wastewater and rainwater) and the increasing importance of desalination unit projects.
It is mainly about reinforcing the role of local authorities and populations in the inclusive governance of the sector. In this regard, the President of the Republic asked the Minister of Hydraulics and Sanitation to reform the urban hydraulics policy and to carefully expand the so-called "concession" perimeter in view of the accelerated urbanization of the national territory and the new climatic challenges that call for a revision of the strategic, technical, and financial governance of sanitation.
On this subject, he instructed the Minister of Hydraulics and Sanitation to take urgent actions to ensure the efficient functioning of services and networks under the National Office of Sanitation of Senegal (ONAS).
Furthermore, the President of the Republic indicated to the government the urgency of taking necessary measures to strengthen flood prevention and control. He asked the Minister of Hydraulics and Sanitation to start pre-rainy season operations as soon as possible and to define urgent measures for flood prevention and management, particularly in identified sensitive zones and sites.
The President also reminded the Minister of Hydraulics and Sanitation of the imperative to finalize the draft Water Code law. This forthcoming law will strengthen the preservation of our natural water resources and transparency in their inclusive governance. A regulatory authority for the water sector will also be established. To conclude this chapter, the President informed that on Friday, February 21, 2025, in Koungheul, he would launch the Project for Mobilizing Water Resources from the Nianijia Bolong Watershed (PROMOREN).
Finally, the President revisited his participation in Ethiopia at the 38th Summit of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU), held on February 15-16, 2025, and the celebrations of the independence of the sister Republic of The Gambia, at the invitation of his counterpart Adama Barrow, to show solidarity and fraternity with the Gambian people whose destiny is intertwined with that of Senegal.
In his communication, the Prime Minister informed the Council of his appearance at the National Assembly on Friday, February 21, 2025, regarding current government issues, specifically to discuss with deputies the lessons to be learned from the grave findings and recommendations of the final report of the Court of Auditors on "the audit of the report on the state of public finances, management from 2019 to March 31, 2024," including conservative and corrective measures. The Prime Minister highlighted the indications in the report regarding the actions the Court of Auditors plans to take in response to presumed mismanagement, factual management, or criminal offenses.
In accordance with the directives of the Head of State, he instructed the Minister of Finance and Budget to take appropriate measures for the prompt implementation of the required corrective actions, without delay, to operationalize the said recommendations. In this context, particular attention should be paid to the integrity and transparency of decision-making processes and functional relationships within financial governance bodies.
The Prime Minister noted that beyond improving the budgetary and financial governance of public funds, the government intends to implement the required short-term corrective measures, focusing on the rationalization of public spending and the reduction of the state's lifestyle. He emphasized that, following the President of the Republic's directives, he will hold the first meeting between the government and social partners on Thursday, February 27, 2025, to ensure the mobilization of all the nation's vital forces in the economic and financial recovery of the country.
This meeting, which will mark the beginning of an inclusive, frank, and patriotic dialogue, will bring together around the government, trade unions, employer organizations, civil society organizations, Republic institutions, business leaders, national organizations, associations, and friendly societies. Referring to the deployment of projects and programs under the "Vision Senegal 2050" framework for the five-year period 2025-2029, the Prime Minister urged ministers to pay particular attention to finalizing roadmaps and starting projects to be initiated in 2025 as soon as possible.
Finally, the Prime Minister reported to the Council on the ongoing work of the December 2024 Committee for commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Thiaroye massacre of Senegalese Tirailleurs. In this regard, he recalled that the President of the Republic, by decree dated January 13, 2025, elevated the Thiaroye military cemetery to the status of a national cemetery and instituted December 1 as "Senegalese Tirailleurs Day."
The Prime Minister also indicated that the concerned ministries are taking charge of the four other measures taken by the Head of State to crystallize this tragic event in collective memory. These include the Thiaroye 44 Memorial, a documentation center, the designation of streets and public places in the victims' names, and the incorporation of this history into curricula. Regarding the full disclosure of the number of victims, the Prime Minister informed the Council that additional information is still awaited. Given this constraint, archaeological excavations will be undertaken.
MINISTERIAL COMMUNICATIONS:
The Minister of African Integration and Foreign Affairs gave a communication on the withdrawal of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) countries from ECOWAS;
The Minister of Industry and Trade gave a communication on market supply in food commodities;
The Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty, and Livestock provided an update on the groundnut marketing campaign, the monitoring of the horticultural campaign, and the preparation for the national livestock day;
The Secretary of State for SME development gave a communication on the 4th edition of the SME Forum as part of the national strategy for SME/SMI promotion and development.
LEGISLATIVE AND REGULATORY TEXTS:
The Council examined and adopted:
The draft decree authorizing the President of the Republic to ratify the convention governing the Banking Commission of the West African Monetary Union adopted on March 31, 2023, in Dakar;
The draft decree creating and setting the organization and functioning rules of the Digital Governance Committee "GouvNum."
INDIVIDUAL MEASURES:
The President of the Republic made the following decisions:
For the Ministry of African Integration and Foreign Affairs: Mr. Mame Baba CISSE, Principal Senior Foreign Affairs Advisor of exceptional class, payroll number 516 903/B, is appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Senegal to the European Union Commission, replacing Mr. Baye Moctar DIOP, who has been assigned to other duties;
Mr. Malick DIOUF, Principal Senior Foreign Affairs Advisor, payroll number 605 799/D, previously Ambassador and Deputy Secretary-General of the Ministry of African Integration and Foreign Affairs, is appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Senegal to His Excellency Mr. Paul BIYA, President of the Republic of Cameroon, replacing Mr. Khare DIOUF, who has been assigned to other duties;
Mr. Samba Dialigué BALDE, Principal Foreign Affairs Chancellor, payroll number 620 663/A, previously Second Counselor at the Embassy of Senegal in Niger, is appointed Consul General of the Republic of Senegal in Pointe-Noire, replacing Mr. Issa WAGUE.
The Minister of Vocational and Technical Training, Government Spokesperson, Amadou Moustapha Njekk SARRE.