Ousmane Sonko's recent statement on the "odious debt": "A surreal and incongruous intervention," according to Alioune Badara Coulibaly

In an opinion piece titled "The odious debt, an opinion according to Sonko: Irresponsible!", the spokesperson for the Alliance for the Republic (APR), Alioune Badara Coulibaly, revisited the recent statements of former Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko regarding the public debt.

In an interview with RFI and France 24, the former Prime Minister stated: “The odious debt. I used it once or twice. It’s a whole procedure. I didn’t have all the levers. When I spoke on certain occasions, I spoke as the head of a political party giving his opinion. Don’t forget that I was just the Prime Minister. The powers of the Prime Minister are extremely limited in this country.”

These remarks failed to convince Alioune Badara Coulibaly. In a public statement, the APR spokesperson argued that this distinction between the roles of party leader and head of government is invalid: "From the moment he accepted the responsibilities of head of government, these responsibilities became indistinguishable from his role as leader of the political party. It becomes difficult, if not impossible, to separate the two."

He stressed that the "odious debt" and the "hidden debt" were often mentioned by the former Prime Minister "in settings where he is surrounded by the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Economy and the Secretary General of the Government, authorities whose appearance in Pastef remains to be determined."

Alioune Badara Coulibaly also questioned Ousmane Sonko's references to the absence of "levers." According to the APR spokesperson, Ousmane Sonko was aiming for "a sensational stunt by putting forward an outrageous claim wrapped in characterization, slander, and demonization of the outgoing regime," with "the sole purpose of giving more weight to the lie in order to reap electoral gains in the lead-up to the legislative elections."

"In the end, what he thought was a campaign argument turned out to be dramatic for the country, its economy and its stability," he argued.

For him, this "surreal and incongruous intervention" arouses curiosity and revolts more than one, given the leading role he played in the debt issue, when he was at the head of the government.

In this regard, Mr. Coulibaly poses the dilemma of "two things": either he is "irresponsible", or he has not been "up to the task" of Prime Minister which had been entrusted to him by the President of the Republic.

According to the APR spokesperson, this shift in discourse has shown that the former Prime Minister belongs to the "caste of politicians who aspire to preside over the destinies of our fellow citizens, but are capable, without batting an eye, of admitting their irresponsibility and immaturity towards that same people."

"We feel shame and disgust towards him, especially since his speech demonstrates that he was far from being fit to exercise the responsibilities entrusted to him at the highest level of the State," he insisted.

Alioune Badara Coulibaly reminded everyone that "no one can or should wish to remove the issue of debt from the curiosity of citizens and from public debate."

He also argued for a debate "without invective fueled by resentment and a desire for revenge, without disinformation, without false allegations and without untruths" which, as in this case, cause "heavy harm to the country".

Finally, he stated that this parenthesis of the "odious debt" and this "recent intervention by Ousmane Sonko are "the pirouettes and leaps of a lamentable agility, which betray the fragility of the personality of this 'individual' who surely occupied his position in the State by mistake."