IANA Blog- April 2024

 Blog

Happy April,

Hope y’all are getting ready for the convention in April.

I wanted to talk about something different. As I mentioned a couple of blogs ago, I’ve been paying attention to what’s been happening in other parts of Africa, especially with Niger, Burkina Faso, Sudan and the Congo, but I wanted to focus on what’s going on in Senegal. Just recently, they elected a new president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye. He is the fifth President of Senegal, and won the election and took over from disqualified candidate Ousmane Sonko, who was elected as their Prime minister. 

Diomaye was raised with left-wing views, as his father comes from the Socialist Party of Senegal. He is also a Pan Africanist. He is also planning to fight the economic stranglehold of France. Seeing this also leaves me with a smile on my face, as I see other parts of Africa, especially West Africa fighting back against the oppressors. One thing I did notice though, he is polygamous. He actually has two wives: Marie Khone Faye and Absa Faye.

I remember one time my friend and I were watching the news on TV. We were watching France24, and when he was sworn in as President, all they talked about was his two wives, like it’s some sort of scandal. Crazy thing is that France24 is supposed to be alternative news, but just like the American news, it has its bias, so I shouldn’t be surprised. They didn’t want to talk about his plan to fight back against the French, or his plan to change Senegal, they wanted to talk about his wives. 

Personally for me, I wasn’t focused on his wives, because that’s none of my business. I just wanted to see if he would keep his promise as President and change Senegal for the better. Will he be targeted like they targeted other African revolutionaries? Is he taking the same route as the leaders of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali? It’s going to be interesting, so I’ll definitely be paying attention to what’s going on in Senegal, just like I will with Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali. Here’s to hoping that this will be a huge shift for Africa, especially for West Africa. I personally hope people in Nigeria see this shift too, because I feel like this is something Africa needs. Younger leaders who want to see it change for the better, no more puppets.