If the campaigning and politicking continue the way they are, the people of Senegal will be saved the trouble of bidding one Sall bye and welcoming another guy named Sall. This is because one of the rising Senegalese politicians, Khalifa Sall, who is not a relation of President Macky Sall, has been sentenced to a five-year jail term for fraud. This will certainly truncate his plan to vie in the presidential elections due next February.
In effect, this means that 62-year old Sall, who is the mayor of Dakar, cannot contend the presidential poll next year in order to replace President Sall, who is stepping down. But Khalifa Sall has declared emphatically that the charges against him are politically motivated.
The dissident Socialist Party member, who began political activism at an early age, had been accused of fraudulent use of public funds, for which he was also fined five million CFA francs.
Khalifa Sall was found not guilty on charges of criminal conspiracy, money laundering and misappropriating public funds. Prosecutors had sought a seven-year prison term against Sall, who was tried along with his financial director, Mbaye Toure, and six other defendants.
After holding various ministerial portfolios under then Socialist President Abdou Diouf, he was elected mayor of the capital in 2009. The court heard allegations of a system of fake receipts for rice and millet, the money from which Sall was accused of using for “political purposes”.
Mr. Sall said the trial was fuelled by his refusal to cut deals with the government and that the money was used for spending on sensitive issues such as security. It is expected that he would appeal over the verdict.
