President of the Forum for Justice, Babacar Bâ, has once again spoken out against what he sees as a blatant contradiction in the rhetoric of former Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko regarding transparency in political funds. In a public statement, human rights defender Bâ notes that someone who is today presenting himself as the champion of integrity and good governance had themselves benefited from an enormous political fund worth over 1.7 billion CFA francs during their time at the helm, a sum that Sonko himself publicly acknowledged.

Babacar Bâ finds it difficult to justify this irony, as former Pastef leader has repeatedly criticized what he called ‘black boxes’ of state funds in the past, only to find himself managing these very same mechanisms once he was in office. The coordinator of the Forum for Justice has made transparency in political funds a recurring rallying cry in recent months, calling on the President, Prime Minister, and National Assembly to communicate the amounts received and accept oversight by the Court of Audits.

Babacar Bâ describes Senegal’s governance as a ‘mascara institutional’ and calls on the Sengalese people to wake up, unite, and take control of their destiny in a language that starkly contrasts with his usual technical tone when discussing the management of public funds.