Constitutional Council rejects special credit bill, advises Pastef on path to transparency

The Council's decision, presided over by Ousmane Diagne, found the proposed law n° 36/26 unconstitutional. This ruling follows previous rejections of a constitutional revision in July and an interpretative amnesty law in April. The Council's reasoning focused on the form, not the substance, of the reform.

It determined that the contested provisions, particularly articles 3 and 4, concerning the procedures for commitment, liquidation, ordering, payment, justification, and control of special credits, fall under the regulatory power delegated by the organic law on finance laws LOLF, specifically Article 118 of decree n° 2020-978. This means the ordinary legislator lacks the authority to legislate on matters reserved for the executive. The Council rejected the entire bill as the irregular provisions were deemed inseparable from the rest of the text.

The decision implicitly outlines a path for Pastef to achieve its transparency goals: modifying the organic law LOLF itself, negotiating changes to the implementing decree with the executive, or narrowing future legislative initiatives to aspects truly within the domain of ordinary law, such as the overall political or budgetary control of special credits. The Pastef-Les Patriotes parliamentary group has reaffirmed its commitment to regulating political funds, acknowledging the delay