Senegal: President Faye appoints mentor Ousmane Sonko as prime minister
Barely some hours after he was sworn in as the new president of Senegal, Bassirou Diomaye Faye has appointed his key ally and fellow party man, Ousmane Sonko, as prime minister.
The appointment is the first since his emergence from prison to the presidential palace.
The general secretary of the presidency, Oumar Samba Ba, announced in a decree read on the public television station RTS that Mr Ousmane Sonko is named prime minister.”
Speaking after his appointment, Sonko said he would present president Faye with a full list of proposed ministerial appointments for his approval as soon as possible.
During the campaign, Bassirou Diomaye Faye worked alongside his radical mentor, Ousmane Sonko, a notable anti-establishment politician who was disqualified from participating in the election.
In his victory speech, Faye underlined their shared aims, which included national healing, dealing with the cost-of-living crisis, and battling corruption.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye has promised to reestablish national sovereignty over critical assets such as the oil, gas, and fishing industries.
He also wants to ditch the regional CFA franc, which he considers a French colonial legacy, and spend more on agriculture to achieve food self-sufficiency.
Despite this, he reassured investors that Senegal “will remain a friendly country and a sure and reliable ally for any partner that engages with us in virtuous, respectful and mutually productive cooperation.”
On the international stage, Faye seeks to bring military-run Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger back into the fold of the regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc.
