Government refers special funds bill to Constitutional Council, plenary session suspended

Prime Minister Ahmadou Al Aminou Mohamed Lô initiated the referral under Article 83 of the Constitution due to disagreements over several articles in the proposed law. The Constitutional Council now has eight days to issue its decision. The bill, supported by the Pastef parliamentary majority, aims to strictly limit the use of special funds, also known as special credits or secret funds, to national defense, internal and external security, and intelligence activities.

All other allocations would be prohibited. During the committee review, the government, represented by Minister of Justice Me Moussa Sarr, proposed six amendments, all of which were rejected by Pastef deputies. The government then alerted the Assembly bureau to a potential inadmissibility of the text.

The plenary vote was initially set for August 19, as part of an extraordinary session opened on August 10 at the initiative of the President of the National Assembly, Ousmane Sonko. The regulation of special funds was a campaign promise of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye. The presidential budget is projected to reach 204.544 billion CFA francs in 2026, and former Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko had previously mentioned managing over 1.77 billion CFA francs in political funds during his time as Prime Minister.

The Constitutional Council's