Amath Dansokho

Amath Dansokho

Amath Dansokho (born January 13, 1937[1]) is a Senegalese politician. He was Secretary-General of the Party of Independence and Work (PIT) for years; he also served in the government of Senegal as Minister of Urban Planning and Housing from 1991 to 1995 and again, briefly, in 2000. He was Mayor of Kédougou for a time. Since 2012, he has been a Special Adviser to the President of Senegal; he is also Honorary President of the PIT.

Political career

Dansokho was born in Kédougou.[1] He was a member of the African Independence Party from 1957 to 1959 and lived in exile from 1960 to 1977. In 1983 he was first elected to the National Assembly as a PIT candidate, and he became Secretary-General of the PIT in 1984,[2] following the death of Seydou Cissokho. He was re-elected to the National Assembly as a PIT candidate in 1988.[2]

From April 1991 to September 1995, Dansokho served in the government as Minister of Urban Planning and Housing;[3] he was re-elected to the National Assembly in 1993 and 1998.[2] Subsequently he supported opposition candidate Abdoulaye Wade in the 2000 presidential election,[4] and after Wade's victory he was named Minister of Urban Planning and Housing in the new government formed in April 2000.[5] However, he became critical of Wade and was dismissed from the government in November 2000,[6][7] becoming the first of Wade's leftist allies from the 2000 election to be jettisoned.[6]

As a candidate on his party's national list, Dansokho was the only PIT candidate to be elected to the National Assembly in the April 2001 parliamentary election.[8] He also served as the Eighth Vice-President of the National Assembly during the parliamentary term that followed the election.[9]

Speaking in 2002, Dansokho said that Wade was too arrogant and that his relations with other African leaders were lacking due to that characteristic; he also said that "if [Wade] had become president of Senegal in the 1960s, he would have proclaimed himself emperor."[10]

The PIT joined the Coalition Alternative 2007 for the 2007 presidential and parliamentary elections. In December 2006, Moustapha Niasse was designated as the coalition's candidate in the February 2007 presidential election and Dansokho was designated to head the coalition's list in the parliamentary election,[11] which was later scheduled to be held in June 2007. After the presidential election, in which Wade was re-elected, Wade mentioned Dansokho as one of several opposition politicians who would be facing prosecution for corruption. Dansokho was accused of selling lands around the international airport while he was Minister of Urban Planning and of embezzling 17 million CFA francs as mayor of Kédougou. He dismissed these charges, calling Wade a coward.[12][13] Dansokho, acting as spokesman for 12 opposition parties, announced a boycott of the parliamentary election on April 2, 2007,[14] and as a result of this the PIT did not participate in the election.

Dansokho was not included on the municipal candidate list of the Benno Siggil Senegaal opposition coalition for Kédougou in the March 2009 local elections. According to Dansokho, he had already told the PIT Secretariat that he did not want to be Mayor again due to poor health, but he still felt able to serve as a municipal councillor; nevertheless, he was not included on the opposition's municipal list. Dansokho said that he was excluded from the candidate list because he was known to be averse to corruption. He remained a regional councillor.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 "Ce que Dansokho a réellement dit à la Dic", lemessager.sn, 10 April 2006 (French).
  2. 1 2 3 "Dansokho Amath", Senegal: Les Hommes de Pouvoir n°5, Africa Intelligence, 17 July 2001 (French).
  3. ↑ List of former ministers of urban planning, Ministère de l'Urbanisme et de l'Aménagement du Territoire.
  4. ↑ "Election présidentielle du 27 février 2000 - Le pays semble être à un tournant de son histoire", Afrique-express.com (French).
  5. ↑ "Le gouvernement du Sénégal formé le 3 avril 2000", Afrique-express.com (French).
  6. 1 2 Ambroise Ebonda, "Wade brise l'aile gauche du Sopi", Le Messager, Journal N° 1837, March 14, 2005 (French).
  7. ↑ "Senegal's president sacks key leftist members", AFP (IOL), March 10, 2005.
  8. ↑ "List of deputies". Archived from the original on 2003-04-22. Retrieved 2008-01-22. (French).
  9. ↑ "List of members of the bureau of the National Assembly". Archived from the original on 2002-08-11. Retrieved 2008-04-12. (French).
  10. ↑ Norimitsu Onishi, "Senegalese Loner Works to Build Africa, His Way", The New York Times, April 10, 2002.
  11. ↑ "Senegalese opposition leader heads new coalition", African Press Agency, December 22, 2006.
  12. ↑ Pape Noel Fall, "Wade Threatens to sue Niasse, Idy, Tanor, Dansokho Following his victory in Senegal Elections", The Point (The Gambia), March 5, 2007.
  13. ↑ "Senegal: Dansokho And Niasse React to Wade", FOROYAA (allAfrica.com), March 5, 2007.
  14. ↑ Diadie Ba, "Senegal's opposition to boycott elections", Reuters (IOL), April 2, 2007.
  15. ↑ "Entretien avec Amath Dansokho : ' Dans l'opposition, des gens souhaitaient ma mort'", Wal Fadjri (Seneweb.com), April 20, 2009 (French).
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/11/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.