The former Minister of Interior, Aly Ngouille Ndiaye, has reignited discussions surrounding the special funds granted to the highest authorities of the State in Senegal. Before delving into presidential funds, he asserts that Ousmane Sonko must first account for the utilization of resources made available to him during his tenure as head of government.

Recounting the history of this financial allocation, Aly Ngouille Ndiaye states that the current Prime Minister is the very first Senegalese head of government to have received dedicated political funds for his office. He emphasized that most former Prime Ministers are still living — with the exception of Boun Abdallah Dionne — and affirms that none of them, neither Dionne nor Amadou Bâ, ever had access to such an envelope. He also pointed out that Sidiki Kaba, who succeeded Sonko in the Prime Minister’s office, served for too brief a period for this question to be relevant in his case.

The ambiguity surrounding the 1.7 billion FCFA

The former minister then addressed the figure of 1.7 billion FCFA, a sum frequently mentioned by Ousmane Sonko himself, though its periodicity has never been clearly established. Some sources suggest this amount was allocated quarterly, while others believe it was an annual sum. Ngouille Ndiaye highlighted that if this allocation were indeed quarterly, the annual total would then approach 8 billion FCFA.

The former minister also reiterated earlier statements made by Abdourahmane Diouf, which indicated that the 1.7 billion FCFA envelope had been fully expended before Sonko sought a budget supplement. For Ngouille Ndiaye, the fact that Sonko’s successor in the Prime Minister’s office found no available funds confirms that the first quarter’s allocation had indeed been entirely consumed — a observation he presents as factual rather than an accusation.

Aly Ngouille Ndiaye concludes by asserting that, for the sake of consistency and transparency, Ousmane Sonko should have included his own management of special funds within the scope of the investigative commissions he himself established. Furthermore, he hinted at possessing additional information on the subject, though he refrained from disclosing it publicly at this juncture.