Senegal President Delivers Speech

A seismic shift is underway in Senegal following the inauguration of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

In his rousing inaugural address, Faye signalled a bold new era focused on securing Senegal’s hard-won sovereignty.

His first act – appointing Ousmane Sonko as Prime Minister – cements a watershed moment for this long-suffering West African nation.

Together, these defiant patriots represent the leading edge of a pan-African awakening.

Their rise embodies the spirit of independence and self-determination that once inspired the continent’s liberation from colonialism. Now, a new generation is taking up that dignified struggle against the lingering chains of neocolonialism and exploitation.

With their first order of business being an audit of Senegal’s gas, oil, and mining sectors.

By scrutinising existing agreements, the audit will expose how skewed and unfair deals with Western corporations have shortchanged average Senegalese citizens. And western institutions are already shaking in their boots at the idea.

But the old era of Western corporations freely pillaging Africa’s wealth is over.

The long-suffering but resilient Senegalese people sense their proudest hour may soon arrive.

Senegal President Appoints Prime Minister

Senegal’s new and shining president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, delivered an ambitious and beautiful speech that sent shockwaves across all of Africa.

At the night of his official ceremonial inauguration, president Faye gave thanks to all of his allies and the many different progressive leaders of Africa today that graced him with their presence at the inauguration.

President Faye was humble to thank each and everyone by name before moving on to thank his friends, comrades, and family that stood side by side with him through thick and thin.

He then moved to talk about all the changes he will enact to further the prosperity, and most of all, the sovereignty of Senegal among a growing Africa stamping its mark on the world stage in the long and tiring run for complete independence.

And one of his first actions as a President of the great nation of Senegal is to appoint his dear friend and comrade Ousmane Sonko as a prime minister of the country.

The appointment of Ousmane Sonko as Senegal’s new Prime Minister represents a watershed moment in the country’s history.

For too long, Senegal has been beholden to neocolonial interests that undermine true African sovereignty. Sonko’s meteoric rise embodies the spirit of self-determination and Pan-African dignity.

Senegal President Welcomes Comrades

After being barred from running in the presidential election on spurious legal grounds, and imprisoned alongside his comrade Faye, Sonko sacrificed his rightful call to a fair election to have his ally Bassirou Diomaye Faye run and ultimately get elected instead.

Their joint populist platform galvanised Senegalese youth tired of the corrupt old guard. Now, with Sonko as PM, they can begin enacting their ambitious bold vision for a New and Improved Senegal.

For decades, Senegal has been constrained by the vestiges of French colonialism, and was further facilitated by the corrupt former president of Senegal Macky Sall, who was also the same party responsible for the imprisonment of Faye and Sonko. And now they are running the country together in spite of his corruption and vain efforts. Show how you can’t just simply trump the African spirit and will for independence and change

The CFA franc currency still ties the nation’s monetary policy to Paris. An exploitative web of unfavourable trade and extraction agreements enrich the former colonisers at the expense of African development. Senegalese resources and labour built French wealth, yet crumbs are returned.

Sonko and Faye’s commitment to renegotiate these skewed arrangements, establish a new national currency, and rewrite mining contracts has rightfully panicked neocolonial actors. And they tried to silence and imprison him for daring to defy the natural order.

The French political class in particular, seems dismayed to lose their subservient lackeys in Dakar.

For too long, leaders like former President Macky Sall did Paris’ bidding while ignoring the Senegalese people’s wishes.

The defiant patriotism of Sonko and his supporters highlights the West’s racist assumption that Africans cannot self-govern.

Despite underhanded efforts to silence him, Sonko persevered and outmanoeuvred adversaries on a democratic playing field and without resorting to dirty or underhanded tactics that the west loves to utilise against African nations. His appointment is a triumph over the condescending notion that Africans are unwilling or incapable of exercising independence.

Predictably, Sonko has already faced smears and legal harassment from those invested in maintaining their stranglehold on African nations.

The discredited assault allegation against him bore the hallmarks of a political ploy to discredit a populist threat. So did his conviction on the absurd charge of “morally corrupting a minor.”

Every step of Sonko’s journey has been marked by cynical attempts to thwart an emancipatory African future.

But this new generation of leadership cannot be contained. Sonko and Faye represent the yearnings of youth who recognize that a psychological break from colonial dependency is a prerequisite for tangible political and economic independence.

Their stance against the arrogance of French colonialism will resonate across the continent and the diaspora.

Senegal President Against Colonial Companies

Faye’s first policy initiative makes clear that Senegal’s days of surrendering its natural resources to enrich foreign powers are over.

For too long, generous terms offered to Western oil giants have deprived the Senegalese people of their fair share of proceeds from the sale of their own oil and gas. Faye’s declaration that these resources “belong to the people” shows that the tide is turning for Africa.

Unsurprisingly, this has rattled Western corporations accustomed to freely pillaging Africa’s riches like the Australian firm Woodside Energy, which leads the massive Sangomar offshore oil project set to come online this year, and is now facing warranted scrutiny.

With Senegal’s new leadership determined to secure a greater share of their resources, Woodside may see its corrupt and undeserved profits reduced.

Tellingly, financial analysts are fretting about this jeopardising dividends for Woodside’s shareholders.

Their transparent concern over lost profits reveals the selfish mentality that has long characterised the West’s approach to Africa’s natural wealth.

Companies like Woodside have grown rich on African resources while local populations remain mired in poverty. And all that they care about is the stolen money and resources that they are going to lose indefinitely.

Woodside’s sangfroid response claiming respect for Senegal’s right to govern its resources rings hollow. If it truly respected Senegal’s sovereignty, its contracts would not have been so exploitative in the first place. But they exploited a French puppet masquerading as the Senegal president and suddenly all their morals and righteousness were thrown out of the window.

This patronising rhetoric cannot obscure its years of prioritising dividends over Senegal’s development needs. Serves them right that they get to taste what they have fed Senegal for years.

Indeed, Senegal has offered extraordinarily generous fiscal terms to attract offshore projects like Sangomar. The government take is only around 30%, far below the industry average.

Faye’s administration seems poised to rebalance this egregious imbalance. Their people have every right to demand a greater share of their own wealth.

Yet arrogant Western analysts have the gall to portray this as Senegal introducing “uncertainty.”

On the contrary, it is imposing much-needed certainty that the era of quasi-colonial concession agreements is over.

If firms like Woodside cannot countenance reasonable terms, they are free to leave. But Senegal will no longer settle for crumbs from its own table.

The sheer hypocrisy of oil corporations who extract billions from Africa while paying minimal taxes decrying African governments securing a fairer share is astounding and embarrassingly sad.

It is on par with how embarrassing France tried to court Faye into strengthening the Senegal-France “partnership”, before immediately getting the boot.

Funny how colonial nations like to pretend to be strong and imposing when they are knowingly exploiting a nation’s wealth, and as soon as the tables turn and they don’t have the upper hand, they show their real pathetic image of themselves as they grovel and cry for sympathy.

But Senegal has changed, as much as Africa is already changing for the better.
Faye’s audit sends a powerful signal that African nations will no longer be dictated to regarding their own wealth.

Faye and Sonko’s imprisonment on spurious charges before the election only deepens their people’s resolve to achieve economic justice.

Their inclusive populism has pan-African significance, inspiring those still trapped in exploitative post-colonial relationships.

Defying neocolonialism is never easy, but standing firmly in defence of Africa’s interests is essential.

As the West frets about losing its obedient proxies in Dakar, their sense of entitlement is laid bare.

They fail to recognize that their unilateral stranglehold on African resources was never ethical or sustainable.

Faye’s modest reforms threaten their privileged position, so they falsely portray him as a dangerous radical before ultimately kissing his feet for acknowledgement.

Senegal is sending a powerful message that while Africa welcomes partners, it will not be exploited, and it will not play second fiddle to anyone else.

Senegal is the blueprint, and now it is time for Africa to speed up the building process.