President Wade has sacked his main ally and needs to acquire
some new ones
President Abdoulaye Wade has shuffled the deck ahead of the legislative election that is due on 29 April. On 3 March, he sacked his Premier, Moustapha Niasse, whose support won him last year's presidential poll (AC Vol 41 No 7). We hear he accused Niasse of briefing against him by supporting his own candidates for the elections. The new non-party Prime Minister, Mame Madior Boye, is Wade's leading female technocrat, and will keep her job as Minister of Justice. Wade also sacked five ministers from Niasse's Alliance des Forces de Progrès (AFP), replacing them from his own Parti Démocratique Sénégalais and its close allies. Wade and Niasse had long disagreed deeply about how to run the government: the question was whether Niasse would jump or be pushed (AC Vol 41 No 23).
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