The “Holy” Struggle of Senegalese Politics

By: Glenn Ojeda

August 27, 2013

It is safe to say that the greater part of Senegalese society understands the peculiar relationship that exists between the government and the country’s religious leaders. However, most of them do not see the existing system of clientelism as a problem or a threat to good governance; the status quo of daily political business is favored by the majority of the population. For decades now, the Senegalese people have consented to the notion that high religious leaders possess a spiritual authority that transcends the law as it applies to ordinary citizens. This trend is alarming for defenders of the secular republic.

As a first example, let us take the particular case of the leader Sheikh Bethio Thioune, accused of complicity to murder, which has gotten much public attention over the past year. While President Macky Sall’s government remains rigorous regarding Sheikh Bethio’s judiciary proceedings, a loud minority of his disciples, the Thiantacounes, call for the privilege of impunity for the few and pious religious leaders (marabouts). However, as evidence emerged regarding this marabout’s unconventional moral behavior, the public rallied behind the government’s stance of keeping Sheikh Bethio Thioune under arrest and proceeding with his judicial process.

The first example stands in contrast with this second case regarding Senegalese society. During the last week of 2012 the Mourides commemorated the return of their founder Sheikh Amadou Bamba from exile in 1902; this annual celebration is called the Great Magal. For a week the holy city of Touba is flooded by pilgrims that come from all over West Africa and the world to pray at the great mosque of the city that is home to the caliph of the Mourides. No one misses the Great Magal. The festivities draw doctors and teachers away from their communities at the expense of locals’ needs. Such behavior, particularly on the part of medical professionals and politicians, would be considered negligent in any secular democracy, yet here it is not questioned when the reason behind it is attending the Magal of Touba. Imagine the calamity that would ensue if every doctor in Italy spent the entirety of Holy Week praying in Saint Peter’s Basilica, leaving behind patients that needed treatment.

Another salient example of the challenges faced by the attempting-to-stay-secular government of President Macky Sall when dealing with religious marabouts is the issue of the daras (Qur'anic schools). As recently as March 2013 the whole country was outraged by the burning of one such school. Said dara was housed in an unkempt building, and this tragedy resulted in the death of several talibe (young children who study the Qur'an). Though President Sall has expressed his determination to formalize this informal school system, and the burning provided the impetus necessary to resolve the dara issue that has plagued Dakar for decades, little has changed. Once again, the political weight of the marabout network prevailed over the political will to change a widely denounced informal education system in dire need of reform.

The political elite in Senegal must soon recognize the presence of a silent majority which rejects the reactionary stance of the traditional religious authorities and favors the policies of change that President Sall’s government is so hesitant to enact. The country’s status as a secular republic is at stake.

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