Senegalese Energy Minister, Samuel Sarr who struggled to solve the country’s recurring power cut headaches, was fired Monday by President Abdoulaye Wade. He has been replaced by the President’s son, Karim Wade, who is already in charge of several ministerial portfolios including, air transport, infrastructure and international cooperation.
After holding the position of Minister of Energy for 4 years, Samuel Sarr has borne the brunt of his inability to solve the recurring problem of power outages in the Dakar region.
The Minister of Energy, “the man who promised to restore electricity by August 15” this year, was fired Monday, October 4 by President Abdoulaye Wade. Mr. Sarr has been replaced by the latter’s son, Karim Wade.
Karim Wade becomes a super government minister as he continues to run a host of strategic ministries including, energy, air transport, infrastructure and international cooperation.
The president’s son has however left his Minister of Planning portfolio to the Minister of Land Transport and Rail, Nafy Diouf Ngom.
Investment and struggle
SENELEC (National Electricity Company) is still struggling to keep up with the country’s electricity demands in spite of an ambitious investment program involving hundreds of billions of CFA since 2000.
For the seven year period between 2008 and 2015, the Senegalese government plans to spend some 520 billion CFA francs (793 million euros) on the project.
But Samuel Sarr, known to have supported President Wade whilst he was in the opposition, has not been left empty handed. He is now Minister of State and special advisor to Abdoulaye Wade.
According to local analysts, the new position gives Karim Wade a golden opportunity to prove his effectiveness among concerned popular classes who have never hidden their animosity towards him.