Senegal’s main opposition coalition Yewii Askan Wi called for a mass protest of pots and pans on New Year’s Eve, as the President, Macky Sall will be addressing the nation.
This call by the opposition was made on Wednesday December 28, 2022 following a report by Senegal’s Court of Auditors that the nation’s anti-covid funds were subject to “mismanagement and criminal offences”
The report has prompted the opposition’s anger.
“As my predecessors have just recalled us, a thousand billion was put on the table to fight covid, to save the Senegalese,” MP Cheikh Tidiane Youm started. “And during that time, the 1,000 billion that were intended to prevent deaths, some ministers shamelessly and unscrupulously used the funds, like thieves.”
The audit of the Court of Accounts of Senegal regarding the 2020 and 2021 Response Fund expenditures revealed that about 30 million US dollars- spent by various ministries- were not related to covid-19.
The audit of the Court of Accounts of Senegal regards the expenditures made in 2020 and 2021 on the “Response Fund against the effects of Covid-19” amounting to more than 740 billion CFA francs (more than 1.1 billion dollars), financed by donors and the state, according to this report published on the website of the audit institution attached to the Presidency of the Republic.
“The total amount of expenditures (made by various ministries and) not related to covid-19 amounts to 19,727,096,727 CFA francs” (about 30 million dollars), the document says.
Opposition leader Ousmane Sonko called on Senegalese living in their motherland and abroad to denounce the mismanagement.
“We want the whole world to hear the noise of pans on December 31 at 20:00 (GMT). They shall know that the people are not happy with Macky Sall and his government. I call on all Senegalese of all ages to take part in this concert of pots and pans to make the maximum noise because Macky Sall only knows this language.”
The Court of Auditors asked the Senegalese Ministry of Justice to open a judicial investigation against at least ten people, including officials from the ministries involved in the irregularities.
The opposition groups plan on holding a rally on January 6.
