Senegal appoints new judges for political ‘witch hunt’, says ex-ruling party

Senegal’s new leadership is preparing a “witch hunt”, the former ruling party claimed, after several judges were appointed to replace those seen favourable to the previous regime.

The statement by the now-opposition party the Alliance For the Republic (APR) follows a meeting on Friday of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, chaired by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, at which several new judges were appointed to key posts.

Faye’s new government that took office in April following a sweeping victory at the polls vowed to break with the old system, improve living conditions for the Senegalese people and ensure accountability.

With the arrests of several opposition figures in recent weeks, the overhaul marks a step in building a system of vengeance for the election victors to settle scores against under the pretence of accountability, the APR in its statement late Friday.

“Failing to respond to the demands of the Senegalese people and deliver satisfaction to millions of distraught young people (and would-be migrants) who risk their lives by taking to the see, those in power have chosen a witch hunt,” said the APR, led by Senegal’s former president Macky Sall.

The new judicial appointments are in the supreme court, the court of appeal, the public prosecutor’s office in the capital Dakar and for a new judicial body overseeing finance.

Previous judges had been portrayed by the media as having been sympathetic to the former government led by the APR were transferred to provincial jurisdictions to make way for the new appointees.

No official explanation has been given for the changes by the new government.

Sall did not run in the March presidential election, having served two terms at the country’s helm, nominating his prime minister Amadou Ba as the ruling party’s candidate.

The APR believes that the justice appointments by the new government “will be a weapon of distraction and mass destruction against the opposition, to intimidate, muzzle and neutralise it”.

The new government also recently published audit reports calling into question the management of the former government, and launched inspections into public structures, without issuing any arrests thus far.