He is one of the main faces of the opposition. The voice of those who aspire to a renewal at the head of Senegal, led since 2012 by Macky Sall. At 48 Ousmane Sonkowho assumes the suit and tie as much as the sneakers and the cap, appears for some as the herald of the struggle for the people and against the corrupt elites, as an incendiary agitator for others.
His sentence, Thursday, June 1, to two years in prison for “corruption of youth” thus resulted – as in each episode of this legal saga which has lasted since 2021 – a new wave of protest in the country, killing nine people. Third in the 2019 presidential election and fiercest opponent of President Macky Sall, he was accused of rape and death threats against an employee of a beauty salon where he was going to get a massage between 2020 and 2021.
But the issue seemed as much criminal as political – according to the electoral code, his conviction makes him ineligible for the next presidential election scheduled for 2024, for which he had already declared himself a candidate. He can now be arrested “at any time”, Justice Minister Ismaïla Madior Fall told reporters.
From tax official to prominent figure
However, a few years ago, he was unknown to the Senegalese political scene. Ousmane Sonko was born in 1975 in Thiès, 70 kilometers east of Dakar. The son of civil servant parents, he grew up in Casamance and went to do his higher education at Gaston-Berger University in Saint-Louis, where he obtained his master’s degree in public law in 1999. Two years later, he graduated top of his class at the National School of Administration (ENA) in Senegal and began his career as a tax inspector.
After three years in the administration, he created the Autonomous Union of Tax and Estate Agents (SAID). In 2014, he entered politics with the creation of his own party, the Pastef (Patriots of Senegal for work, ethics and fraternity).
In 2016, he was thrust into the limelight when he accused the state of tax evasion and corruption based on his experience as an inspector. The official denounces in particular embezzlement of public funds or tax advantages received in an undue manner by personalities in power. He published “Petrole et gaz au Sénégal – Chronique d’une spoliation” (ed. Fauves) in which he denounced the management of the country’s natural resources by the president and his entourage.
He was then expelled from the public service for “breach of duty of reserve” by a presidential decree. “It was really at this time that he became a leading figure,” says Babacar Ndiaye, director of research and publications at the think tank Wathi, based in Dakar.
Figure of a youth in search of change
Elected deputy in 2017, he is comfortable on television sets and smiling during meetings with activists. Ousmane Sonko knows how to use shocking phrases, and opposes the official narrative of a Senegal “on the way to emergence”, the promise of the President Macky Sall.
In 2019, he embarked on the race for the presidential election. His speech seduces the youth. “He addresses young people with remarks in favor of economic sovereignty, patriotism, while criticizing the governance of the State”, continues Babacar Ndiaye. “He arrived with a speech for change and this met with a form of support from young people.” And above all, he is not a “politician”. But his detractors reproach him for his lack of experience and his sensational speeches.
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On February 24, 2019, he finished in third place in the presidential election with 15.67% of the vote, behind outgoing President Macky Sall and former Prime Minister Idrissa Seck.
Court cases, a “sword of Damocles”
It was in February 2021 that the opponent was accused of rape and death threats by Adji Sarr, an employee of a beauty salon. He denies the facts and then denounces a political maneuver. His arrest provokes violent clashes between his supporters and the police. The wave of protests is on an unprecedented scale for this West African country renowned for its stability. Released under judicial supervision in March 2021Ousmane Sonko claims to be the victim of “a state plot” initiated by relatives of President Macky Sall.
This does not prevent Ousmane Sonko from continuing his rise in politics. In 2022, he was elected mayor of Ziguinchor, after having formed the coalition Yewwi Askan Wi – YAW, Liberate the people in the Wolof language – with several members of the opposition, including the former mayor of Dakar Khalifa Sall.
Ace of social networks, Ousmane Sonko speaks very regularly live on his Facebook page to reach a large segment of the Senegalese population, making the rest of the political class and his methods of communication old-fashioned. Far from the virtual, Ousmane Sonko also knows how to galvanize crowds.
Mehdi Ba, who has interviewed him twice for Jeune Afrique in recent years, describes him as a “leftist sovereignist”. The journalist explains: “The tone of his political discourse is rather left – even if the right-left subdivision is not current in Senegal – and at the same time sovereignist, since he puts forward the interests of Senegal in international level and those of the people at the national level”.
“He could be Senegal’s next head of state”
In August 2022, he is a candidate for the next presidential election in February 2024. An election that he would be able to win, estimates Nicolas Normand, former French ambassador in Dakar. Provided that the youth go to the polls. Beyond his contestation of the economic and social situation, Ousmane Sonko “exploits a widespread resentment, which needs scapegoats being the Senegalese government, and France, the main economic partner”, he continues. In January, the opponent had firmly denied an “anti-French” feeling on France 24 : “We have nothing against France”.
But his political rise could thus be stopped dead after his conviction on Thursday which, according to the electoral code, leads to his ineligibility. As in recent weeks, supporters of Ousmane Sonko took to the streets and unrest broke out in Dakar and several cities. The capital’s university has taken on the air of a battlefield. Groups of young people confronted the police with stones, the latter responding with tear gas. Several buses from the medical school, the history department and the country’s main school of journalism were set on fire and offices ransacked.
“This verdict on command is the final stage of the plot hatched by Macky Sall and his henchmen”, reacted in a press release the party of Ousmane Sonko, Pastef, who called on the Senegalese to “take to the streets” and the forces order to join them.