VZCZCXRO6082
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHDK #0667/01 1491537
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 291537Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2479
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DAKAR 000667 
 
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SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR AF/W, AF/RSA, DRL AND INR/AA 
PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHER 
 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINS PINR KDEM ECON SG
SUBJECT: Senegal: Key figures in Wade's new cabinet 
 
REF: Dakar 584 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
¶1. (SBU) On May 1, President Abdoulaye Wade revealed a new cabinet 
in response to his party's heavy losses following local elections. 
Aside from a new Prime Minister, the President appointed his son 
Karim as a "Super Minister" who will handle international 
cooperation, land use, infrastructure, and air transportation.  The 
cabinet still remains a work in progress as one Minister has already 
been sacked, two ministers who were not reappointed were brought 
back, and one minister resigned because her portfolio was 
inconsequential.  The whole process is in direct opposition to the 
will of the people who clearly rejected the incoherent fashion in 
which the country is being governed by Wade.   End summary. 
 
Departures 
---------- 
¶2. (SBU) President Wade had warned his ministers before the March 22 
elections that those who lost in their constituencies would be 
ousted.  He kept his word, although the punishment was selective. 
Ten ministers lost their jobs including: 
 
--Cheikh Hadjibou Soumare: The former Prime Minister was asked to 
stay on but refused due to cardiac problems and a heavy workload 
during his two-year tenure.  Despite his efforts, the country's 
economic condition has deteriorated due to a lack of budgetary 
discipline and the existence of multiple decision centers, 
especially in the President's Office and that of his son Karim who 
headed the Islamic Conference Agency that siphoned most of GOS 
resources in the past two years into costly infrastructure projects. 
 
 
--Ousmane Masseck Ndiaye: The former Senior Minister in charge of 
decentralization was singled out as the architect of his party's 
defeat.  As the head of the Senegalese Democratic Party's (PDS) 
political activities, he played a key role in the selection of those 
who ran under the banner of the party.  His fate was sealed when he 
selected cronies who were largely rejected by local people for their 
poor governance.  Although Ndiaye was ousted after losing his own 
mayoralty in Saint-Louis, President Wade has appointed him President 
of the newly revived Economic and Social Council. 
 
--Awa Ndiaye:  Despite lavishing copious amounts of cash on her 
constituency, Ndiaye lost in her own neighborhood in Saint-Louis. 
However, because she is a known associate of Karim Wade, she has 
been re-appointed as a Senior Minister without portfolio at the 
Presidency. 
 
--Mamadou Diop:  The former Minister of Commerce and a member of 
AJPADS (African Party for Democracy and Socialism) was removed 
following an on-going leadership quarrel with his party's leader, 
Landing Savane.  Savane, who was a Minister without portfolio, has 
also been ousted and is now flirting with the opposition. 
 
The Untouchables 
---------------- 
¶3. (SBU) Since 2000 and despite nine cabinet reshuffles, some 
ministers never leave the government.  They are dramatically 
referred to as "the untouchables."  They are Cheikh Tidiane Gadio 
(Foreign Affairs), Abdoulaye Diop (economy and finance), Cheikh 
Tidiane Sy (Interior), Bcaye Diop (Defence), Madick Niang 
(Justice), Habib Sy (Public Function and Employment) and Moustapha 
Sourang (Higher Education).  Some ascribe their longevity to 
faithful companionship with the President and others to their 
intense ties to powerful religious families (Mr. Niang).  Mr. Gadio 
is known for his sharp diplomatic skills. 
 
Newcomers 
---------- 
¶4. (SBU) Souleymane Ndene NDiaye is the former Minister of Maritime 
Economy.  His prior positions include a stint as Minister of 
Employment, Chief of Staff of the Presidency and spokesperson of the 
Presidency.  Ndiaye is 51, a native of Guinguineo from the region of 
Kaolack.  He is an attorney and a lifelong PDS stalwart.  He is 
known for being outspoken and independent.  Like his mentor Wade, 
Ndiaye has no scruples in politics; for example he married and then 
soon after divorced the daughter of the most popular female 
politician in his hometown to neutralize the opposition.  Rumor has 
it that Ndiaye fancies himself a playboy.  According to sources, the 
day he was named Prime Minister he went to the Meridien Hotel's 
discotheque to dance the night away in the company of a flock of 
girls.  While some credit him as open-minded, others say he can be a 
little arrogant and not always capable of showing restraint when 
faced with political adversity. 
 
--Karim Meissa Wade:  The appointment of the President's son to a 
cabinet position is unprecedented in Senegal's 50 years of 
independence.  Traditionally, presidential children have been kept 
out of politics and government.  Wade, after appointing his son as 
 
DAKAR 00000667  002 OF 003 
 
 
an adviser in his office, named him chair of ANOCI, a state agency 
tasked with implementing a three hundred billion CFA (USD six 
hundred million) infrastructure program for the Islamic Conference 
Organization Summit that was held in Dakar in 2007.  Then, in order 
to pave his way to the Presidency, Wade asked him to run for Mayor 
of Dakar last March, but he was soundly defeated.  His appointment 
to the cabinet is meant to provide Karim with a springboard and give 
him a chance to familiarize himself with public management.  Prior 
to 2000, Karim spent his career in Paris and London as a banker.  He 
worked for UBS Warburg where he became an Associate Director in 
¶2000.  His mother, Viviane Wade, is a French National.  The 
41-year-old Karim was educated in France where he received a degree 
in Finance.  He is now the most powerful Minister in Senegal as he 
has been put in charge of Land Use and International Cooperation 
where he will be able to negotiate funds with non-traditional donors 
and commit Senegal to various infrastructure projects like JAFZA (an 
industrial Free Zone with Arab investors) and the Diass 
International Airport. 
 
--Fatou Gaye Sarr, Minister of Agriculture.  She is an Engineer in 
Agronomy and was briefly Junior Minister for rural development in 
¶2007.  She worked in the division of Statistics and Analysis at the 
Ministry of Agriculture and also headed a project for the 
development of villages known as PGOV (Project for the organization 
and management of villages).  Some in the rural development sector 
think she is lusterless and that she poorly managed the PGOV 
project.  The agricultural sector is one of the weak links of Wade's 
government, characterized by disjointed policies and difficulties in 
organizing the peanut market which is the country's largest cash 
crop. 
 
--Khadim Gueye is the Junior Minister in charge of farmers.  A 
former General Manager of Suneor, (a peanut processing company), 
Gueye will work with the Minister of Agriculture.  This position is 
new and seems to be a preemptive attempt to prevent farmers unions 
from turning the huge farming labor force against the government. 
The participation of farmers organizations in the Assises 
Nationales, a national forum seeking to offer alternatives to 
current governance, scared the GOS.  Wade has already announced the 
creation of a Green Bank to be managed by farmers unions.  He said 
he will introduce a bill to transfer GOS shares from the Credit 
Agricole to the new bank and said this way farmers can have access 
to about 30 billion CFA to eliminate intermediaries "that exploit 
them" in the purchase of seeds or in the sale of their produce. 
Even if the project does not materialize, it signals an attempt by 
the government to appease the leaders in the farming sector by 
giving them access to financial resources. 
 
--Moustapha Mamba Guirassy is the Minister of Communication and the 
government's Spokesperson.  He is a businessman by trade who studied 
Management in Canada and upon his return to Senegal, created, in 
1995, the private school of management IAM (African Institute of 
Management).  A Former member of the opposition party AFP, he 
switched to the PDS and became politically active in his hometown of 
Kedougou.  In 2007, he was elected as a Member of the National 
Assembly and in March 2009 he bucked the national trend by becoming 
Mayor of Kedougou while running on the PDS's ticket.  His 
appointment as a Minister gives the people of Kedougou, a zone where 
there have been serious social and economic problems, a 
representative in the cabinet who can channel back government 
resources to his area, especially by hiring staff in his Ministry. 
 
 
The Minister of Interior Reinforced 
----------------------------------- 
¶5. (SBU)   Although Wade fired two of his colleagues from 
Saint-Louis for having lost in the local elections, Cheikh Tidiane 
Sy remains in the cabinet with an expanded portfolio that covers 
local government affairs.  Minister of Interior Sy is the most noted 
hardliner in the GOS, committed to defending Wade and the party. 
Sy's son is Wade's Information Technology adviser and he holds sway 
over all IT and telecommunication deals involving the GOS. 
 
 
Abdoulaye Balde - a rising star 
----------------------------- 
¶6. (SBU)   Abdoulaye Balde remains Secretary General of the 
Presidency.  He led the PDS's victory in the city of Ziguinchor and 
in an overwhelming number of communities in the Casamance region. 
Balde is the strongest ally of Karim Wade as the two founded the 
Generation du Concret (Concrete Generation) that is looking to 
emerge as Senegal's leading political force after Wade.  A member of 
Wade's entourage told Embassy that President Wade had wanted Balde 
to go into the cabinet to help Karim but that Balde had declined. 
Wade then turned to Ousmane Masseck Ndiaye to replace Balde but the 
latter made such a strong plea to keep his position that Wade 
abandoned the idea.  However, it is not inconceivable that Wade may 
yet force Balde into the cabinet not only to help Karim but to also 
remove him from his current comfort zone where his power is 
increasing and he is less exposed to criticism than Karim. 
 
DAKAR 00000667  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
Confusion or diversion 
---------------------- 
¶7. (SBU)   The Senegalese, all too familiar with Wade's revolving 
door cabinet, have this time been stunned by the chaos surrounding 
the cabinet reshuffle as two days after the cabinet was announced, 
it was changed.  Ousmane NGom, who was the Minister of Small 
Businesses and Mining, was in Iran negotiating to buy tractors for 
the GOS when he was removed.  Upon his return, he pressured Wade and 
was immediately reinstated into his old job.  After that episode 
Abdoulaye Diop, the Minister of Finance, protested that without 
responsibility for the economy he could not do his job and the 
President gave him back the Economy portfolio.  The word "economy" 
had been amputated from the title of his Ministry to reflect a shift 
in power to Karim who had been given the International Cooperation 
portfolio.  Diop regained his full title and kept the two most 
important departments of International Financial Cooperation and 
Debt and Investment in his portfolio.  Karim, by virtue of being 
Minister of International Cooperation, will deal with 
non-traditional donors from Asia and the Arab countries. 
 
 
¶8. (SBU) Mame Birame Diouf, after being fired as Minister of Culture 
for failing to contain former Prime Minister Macky Sall, was 
reappointed after his constituents in Fatick protested.  But Diouf, 
who is now a Senior Minister, is in Charge of... a festival, i.e. 
the FESNAM, The Festival of Negro Arts to be held in December in 
Dakar.  Meanwhile, Aida Mbodj resigned a week into her new job after 
realizing that her oddly named Ministry for Processing Agricultural 
Produce was an empty shell. 
 
COMMENT 
-------- 
¶9.  (SBU)   Local media have rightly depicted the cabinet as 
farcical.  It continues the compartmentalization of the government 
and creates positions for individuals at the expense of cohesion and 
efficiency.  As usual, there are way too many Ministers within the 
Cabinet and in the Presidency that are doing nothing.  It is not the 
response people expected from the President after his party's local 
election defeat.  Instead, President Wade remains indifferent to the 
pleas of the Senegalese and is obtusely ignoring the opposition-led 
"Assises Nationales."  Winning the 2012 presidential election 
clearly remains his main goal and he has chosen a political cabinet 
that will continue to promote client politics and patronage rather 
than good governance. 
Bernicat