Idrissa Seck, one of President Abdoulaye Wade’s closest aides, was named Senegal’s new prime minister on Monday after the government was sacked in the wake of a ferry disaster that cost 1 200 lives.
Seck replaces Mame Madior Boye who was dismissed along with the rest of the government in a move the media suggested was linked to the sinking of the ferry Joola in September, one of the world?s worst maritime catastrophes.
The 43-year-old Seck, who served as director of Wade’s office and the number two in the president’s Senegalese Democratic Party, must now quickly set about forming his new government.
In a brief statement to reporters, Seck said he was determined to work ”for the benefit of all Senegalese people” and fulfill Wade’s vision for the west African country.
He spoke of the two major Senegalese events over the past year — the tragedy of the ferry disaster and the success in the World Cup where the national team reached the quarterfinals.
No official explanation was given for the dissolution of the government, in power since May last year, but the Senegalese press had hinted that a new death toll update on the ferry disaster would lead to a cabinet reshuffle.
The Joola, a ship that plied the route between the southern province of Casamance and the capital Dakar, capsized in rough seas off the coast of Gambia — a thin strip of a country that juts into the middle of Senegal — on September 26.
The head of the official investigation into the disaster said earlier Monday that the sinking probably claimed 1 200 lives, revising sharply upwards an earlier official toll of 970.
The figure of 1 200 is ”the most likely,” taking into account the tickets sold and the fact that there were some stowaways aboard Le Joola, Seydou Madani Sy told reporters. Only 64 people survived the accident, the worst in Senegal maritime history and in modern African history. Wade last month accepted the resignations of the two ministers most closely associated with the catastrophe, Transport Minister Youssouph Sakho and Armed Forces Minister Youba Sambou.
The president vowed in a televised address to the nation that the ”numerous mistakes” that had been uncovered by investigations into the tragedy would be punished.
Two weeks later the head of the Senegalese navy, which managed the Joola, was fired. An official statement from Wade’s office Monday said: ”The president of the republic received (Boye) this morning to inform her that he decided to relieve her of duties as the head of government to pave the way for a new phase in the country’s development”.
Boye became Senegal’s first woman prime minister in March 2001 when Wade sacked his erstwhile ally Moustapha Niasse after tensions developed between the two men.
A lawyer by training, Boye had no party affiliations before she shot to prominence on being named prime minister. Her rigour and no-nonsense demeanour impressed Wade in the two months she served as interim prime minister, between March and May 2001, and he reappointed her to the head of government’s post when his coalition scored a resounding general election victory over the Socialist Party. – Sapa-AFP