President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has pledged to restore financial integrity to Senegal’s government following revelations of massive hidden debt left by his predecessor. Yet, controversy is brewing over his exemption from a sweeping new transparency law.
The Senegalese government has proposed an amendment to its 2014 asset declaration law, aiming to broaden the scope of who must disclose financial holdings. Under the new rules, a wider range of officials including public prosecutors, judges, local leaders, auditors, and directors of state owned enterprises will be required to declare their assets both at the start and end of their tenure.
Previously, the law applied only to top-tier officials such as the Prime Minister, ministers, and senior accountants managing over 1 billion CFA francs (€1.5 million). The proposed changes would also lower the reporting threshold to 500 million CFA francs (€760,000) for budget managers, pending approval by the National Assembly on August 18, 2025.
Despite the push for greater transparency, President Faye himself is not included in the new declaration requirements a move that has drawn sharp criticism from opposition leaders.
“It is the first condition of transparency that the President of the Republic is subject to these requirements,” said Doudou Wade of the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS), as reported by RFI.
In response, ruling party MP Amadou Ba defended the exemption, citing constitutional provisions that only require the President to declare assets at the beginning of their term. “This goes beyond the hierarchy of norms and constitutes a special law of exception,” Ba wrote on Facebook.
The urgency for reform follows a damning audit in February 2024, which revealed that the previous administration under President Macky Sall had significantly understated the country’s deficits. Senegal’s debt to GDP ratio at the end of 2023 was found to be nearly 100%, far above the previously reported 74%.
The fallout was swift: the International Monetary Fund suspended disbursements to Senegal, and the country’s credit rating dropped to B minus.
President Faye has since launched an aggressive anti-corruption campaign, resulting in the arrest of five former ministers. Among them is Amadou Mansour Faye Sall’s brother-in-law and former Minister of Community Development who faces charges of embezzling over $4.6 million in public funds.
