Dakar threatens constitutional powers over budget rejection
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on SeneNews
Senegal's presidency spokesperson, Me Abdoulaye Tine, warned that the government would use all powers granted by the Constitution in response to the rejection of the 2026 supplementary budget and the Assembly's call to withdraw the 2027 budget. The executive says it wants to preserve continuity of the state in the standoff with MPs, according to SeneNews.
Senegal's presidency warned that it would use "all the powers conferred on it by the Constitution and the laws" in the standoff with the National Assembly over the budget, its spokesperson, Me Abdoulaye Tine, said, according to SeneNews. President Bassirou Diomaye Faye thus intends to preserve continuity of the state after the rejection of the 2026 supplementary finance bill and the request by MPs to withdraw the 2027 budget bill.
Me Abdoulaye Tine denounced a strategy of parliamentary obstruction. He pointed to the actions of the chairman of the Finance and Budgetary Control Committee, Alphonse Mané Sambou, who on 3 November requested the withdrawal of the 2027 budget bill before convening the same committee the following day to examine the text on 5 November, citing the 48-hour regulatory deadline provided for by Article 46 of the Assembly's rules of procedure. On the substance, the spokesperson believes that the rejection of the 2026 supplementary finance bill cannot legally result in the automatic withdrawal of the 2027 budget, and that challenges over budgetary accuracy should be debated in the chamber. Alphonse Mané Sambou disputes this interpretation and stands by his request for withdrawal.
The presidency's statement extends a crisis that began in late October, when the Senegalese finance committee rejected the 2026 supplementary finance bill on 23 October, and then rejected the supplementary budget again on 30 October. On 5 November, the Senegalese ministry was already disputing the request for withdrawal of the 2027 budget bill.
