Aly Ngouille Ndiaye has clarified that Ousmane Sonko’s personal political fund, amounting to 1.7 billion FCFA, was reportedly entirely depleted before Sonko requested additional budgetary support, thereby raising significant questions about the transparency of these expenditures.
Former Interior Minister Aly Ngouille Ndiaye has reignited the discussion surrounding the special funds allocated to the highest state authorities. Before delving into the specifics of presidential funds, Ndiaye contends that Ousmane Sonko must first account for his use of resources made available to him during his tenure as head of government.
Recounting the history of this allocation, Aly Ngouille Ndiaye asserts that the current Prime Minister is the very first head of the Senegalese 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 confirmed that none of them, neither Dionne nor Amadou Bâ, had access to such an allocation. He also noted that Sidiki Kaba, who succeeded Sonko at the Primature, served for too short a period for the issue to arise in his case.
The ambiguity surrounding the 1.7 billion FCFA
The former minister then revisited the figure of 1.7 billion FCFA, a sum frequently mentioned by Ousmane Sonko himself, though its periodicity has never been clearly established. Some speculate it was a quarterly amount, while others suggest 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 echoed earlier statements made by Abdourahmane Diouf, suggesting that the 1.7 billion FCFA allocation had been fully expended before Sonko sought a supplementary budget. For Ndiaye, the fact that Sonko’s successor at the Primature found no funds available confirms that the first quarter’s funds had indeed been entirely consumed—a finding he presents as factual rather than an accusation.
Aly Ngouille Ndiaye ultimately believes that for the sake of consistency and transparency, Ousmane Sonko should have included his own management of special funds within the scope of the inquiry commissions he himself established. He further hinted at possessing additional information on the matter, though he refrained from disclosing it publicly at this time.
