During a packed gathering in Dahra Djoloff over the weekend, Ousmane Sonko unleashed an unprecedented attack on what he described as the reconfiguration of the old political system at the highest levels of the state. Addressing a highly mobilized crowd, the National Assembly president expressed disbelief that longtime allies could betray the very principles they once pledged to uphold for the Senegalese people.
« This isn’t about individuals, but about honoring our commitments and the pillars of our original project: transparency, good governance, accountability, fair justice, and renegotiation of our resources, » Sonko declared, listing the foundations of the movement’s initial vision to break away from entrenched practices.
His most striking remark centered on the alleged systemic reshuffle at the presidency. « Regrettably, it’s this very system that has reorganized itself within the palace to betray our project and revert to familiar habits, » he charged, pointing to a relapse into the very practices the movement had vowed to dismantle.
Sonko highlighted a particularly concerning development: the apparent disconnect between democratic principles and institutional power. « Today, the president has formed a party with no electoral base, yet he wields state institutions. In a democracy, sovereignty resides with the people—not the institutions, » he asserted. This, he implied, suggested a government compensating for its lack of popular legitimacy by leaning on state machinery.
The opposition leader also raised alarms about alleged attempts to co-opt Senegal’s highest judicial bodies. According to Sonko, maneuvers are underway to place the Supreme Court and Constitutional Council « at the service of a few, » a claim he framed as concrete evidence of the palace’s systemic reorganization six years after the promised political shift.