Amadou Ba, then Foreign Minister of Senegal, in February 2020. ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP
It is shortly after 11 p.m., Friday, September 16, 2022, when Amadou Ba flees his villa in Dakar to go to the presidential palace. A few minutes earlier, he received an urgent call from President Macky Sall. “He didn’t know what to expect. “The subpoena surprised him,” admits a relative. The former finance minister (2013-2019) and head of diplomacy (2019-2020) has seen his star fade for two years. However, early that morning he was promoted to prime minister, appointed by the same man who had abolished the office three and a half years earlier. A return in favor that some are interpreting for Macky Sall as setting the stage for the 2024 presidential election.
After several weeks of waiting and almost a year after his appointment, Amadou Ba was finally nominated as candidate for the presidential coalition Benno Bokk Yakaar (BBY) on Saturday September 9th, to run it again. “It’s a reassuring decision because he’s experienced and knows how the state works,” one of his close associates would like to believe.
At the age of 62, Amadou Ba was preferred to other party leaders, despite the new relationships he has with Macky Sall, according to those close to Macky Sall. The resignation of Aly Ngouille Ndiaye, Agriculture Minister Abdoulaye Daouda Diallo at the head of the Economic and Social Council or former Prime Minister Mahammed Dionne returned from Paris at the last minute in mid-July after an absence of more than two years. This faithful traveling companion of the Senegalese President benefited from the support of the party leader, the Alliance for the Republic (APR), which waged an intensive behind-the-scenes campaign on his behalf throughout the summer.
Image (too) smooth
Macky Sall’s bet appears risky as the election of Amadou Ba creates tension on the fringes of the presidential movement. The most hostile are threatening to open an “anti-Ba” front by launching dissident candidacies. “It’s a transplant that didn’t last. He wasn’t there at the beginning and he’s a civil servant, not a grassroots activist. We doubt his ability to lead us to victory,” an APR member said angrily. “At the moment, no war has been declared within the coalition, but there is a risk that it will break out,” he predicts. A scenario that would reflect the Senegalese president’s loss of influence within his movement since announcing his non-candidacy for a third term.
“Ba has been tearing down the walls for years to avoid being suspected of having presidential ambitions. Therefore, it lacks legitimacy today,” said another party executive who defended the election of Mahammed Boun Dionne. Others point out that he has distanced himself from political debates, an image seen as far too smooth and uncombative. But “it’s just an illusion,” warns an opponent. “He’s not an apparatchik, but he knows how to behave like a crocodile. Play dead and then pounce on its prey when it’s not expecting it. He is impressive,” assures a French investment banker who has worked with the technocrat in recent years.
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