VZCZCXRO3349
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHDK #2363/01 3381752
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 041752Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9720
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DAKAR 002363 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR AF/W, AF/RSA, DRL AND INR/AA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINS KDEM SG
SUBJECT: SENEGALESE PRESIDENT WADE DOWNSIZES CABINET 
 
REF: Dakar 2332 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: On December 3, Senegalese President Abdoulaye 
Wade fired 11 ministers (including eight women) and hired one new 
one.  This decision fulfills his recent promise to reduce the size 
of the cabinet to moderate government spending.  The new cabinet 
features 28 members, down from 38, with a more rational 
configuration of portfolios.  This downsizing is not an effective 
budget reduction tool as the real motivations are political.  Wade 
is seeking to regain the political high ground with this largely 
symbolic re-shuffle to answer the challenges posed to his power by 
rioting street vendors in Dakar.  End summary. 
 
A Balanced Cabinet 
------------------ 
 
¶2.  (SBU) By reducing size of the cabinet, Wade hopes to rationalize 
the distribution of portfolios, while maintaining the right balance 
between the ruling PDS (Democratic Party of Senegal) and its allies. 
 Eight women lost their positions arguably as a response to 
wide-spread criticisms that they had served largely as window 
dressing and had no expertise or experience that justified their 
appointments in the first place.  The removal of two ministers close 
to the political movement "Generation du Concrete" led by the 
President's son Karim indicates that Wade might be responding to 
persistent and deepening criticism that Karim had too much influence 
in the government.  Wade kept his political allies, the two seasoned 
politicians, Djibo Ka and Abdou Rahim Agne, who are former 
socialists, as well as the enthusiastic but inexperienced Bocar Dia 
who maintains his portfolio as Minister of Information but loses the 
position of spokesperson of the Government. 
 
Watching the Dinosaurs 
----------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Wade promoted three members of the PDS's old guard to the 
rank of Minister of State, increasing their tally to ten from seven. 
 Technically such ministers answer directly to the President not the 
Prime Minister.  By having these politically powerful, but 
potentially disruptive, figures report to the President, Wade is 
attempting to free the technocrat Prime Minister to focus on 
resolving the countries increasing economic problems.  Moreover, a 
reduced cabinet increases Prime Minister Cheikh Hadjibou Soumare and 
Finance Minister Abdoulaye Diop's ability to adopt policies to 
improve public finances and governance and earn the confidence of 
donors.  This is a priority task for Wade whose government recently 
experienced the first manifestations - in the form of rioting by 
street vendors and student strikes -- of growing public discontent 
with the state of the economy. 
 
Respond to Social Demands 
------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) The symbolic cabinet reshuffle serves primarily to reduce 
public pressure on the government by demonstrating to a frustrated 
populace that Wade is listening to their concerns.  A member of the 
President's Communication Unit told PolFsn that the President is 
planning to move fast with the adoption of reforms to make people 
forget recent street riots and confrontations with the unions.  Ms. 
Maimouna Sourang Ndir, the Minister for Quality of Life, who led the 
recent operation to remove street vendors in Dakar, has been removed 
even though she was just executing the President's orders.  Mr. 
Habibou Ndiaye lost his portfolio as Minister of Commerce for his 
poor management of the GOS's dispute with bakers over the cost of 
bread and his inability to communicate to the people why the prices 
of staple foods have been on the rise.  Minister of Animal Husbandry 
Oumou Khairi Gueye Seck was fired for her failure to implement a 
proper immunization program to stop an equine plague that killed at 
least two thousand horses in recent months. 
 
A More Rational Cabinet 
----------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU)  An NGO leader who works closely with the Prime Minister 
told PolFsn that Soumare wanted a team of fifteen ministers and the 
President had agreed to twenty but finally went to twenty-eight to 
preserve both political and geographic balance in the cabinet. 
Soumare will now work with a smaller and more manageable team.  For 
instance, the Minister of Infrastructure is now in charge of the 
whole transportation sector while agriculture and animal husbandry 
have been woven into one ministry.  Bio-energy, renewable energies 
and scientific research are now also in one ministry rather than 
two.  Finally, the Minister of Senegalese Living Abroad has been put 
in charge of tourism (ostensibly we are told to make use of 
Senegalese expatriates to do informal marketing for the country's 
tourism industry). 
 
A New Comer 
----------- 
 
 
DAKAR 00002363  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶6. (U)   The only new member of the cabinet is Mr. Diame Signate, a 
humanities and social science professor at Cheikh Anta Diop 
University and director of Cultural Programs of the local government 
of the City of Dakar.  He will be in charge of technical and 
vocational education.  Signate formerly a member of the Socialist 
Party joined the PDS in 2001.  His appointment is emblematic of 
Wade's strategy to drain opposition parties of their leadership by 
opening the doors of power to some of their leaders whom he 
euphemistically calls "new militants." 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The newly-appointed cabinet is likely to be provisional. 
Wade continues to search for a lasting to solution to the erosion of 
support for the ruling PDS.  He is in the process of negotiating 
some form of reconciliation with Idrissa Seck (the former prime 
minister that broke with him and ran against him last year) and 
might even be considering pursuing a dialogue with the opposition in 
an effort to achieve a national consensus on the country's 
direction. 
SMITH