politics🇸🇳 Senegal
Aminata Touré criticizes Ousmane Sonko over political funds controversy
Aminata Touré, High Representative of the Head of State and supervisor of the Diomaye Président coalition, addressed the controversy surrounding political funds in Senegal following Ousmane Sonko's dismissal as Prime Minister. Touré, a former Prime Minister, stated that no previous head of government had access to special credits of the magnitude reportedly available to Sonko. She emphasized that all former Prime Ministers, including herself, never received such funds, and that any sums received by a head of government must be traceable in public accounting. Touré highlighted a contradiction in Sonko's statements, noting he initially denied receiving funds before publicly acknowledging their existence and mentioning an amount of 1.7 billion CFA francs. She questioned the origin of these 1.7 billion CFA francs, which Sonko claimed not to have received. Regarding funds she received during her tenure, Touré stated they were for managing the Casamance crisis, handled with a degree of transparency in a social context. She explained that formal receipts were not always feasible for confidential security matters, a practice she believes is common globally, but insisted her amounts were not comparable to those recently revealed. Touré also discussed a proposed law to restrict special funds to defense and national security issues, as well as national solidarity and stability, citing examples like medical evacuations and support for religious events as traditional uses of these funds i