A major turning point has been reached in Senegal’s budget transparency battle. On Thursday, October 1, 2026, the National Assembly led by Ousmane Sonko overrode the government’s amendments on special funds reform, despite the use of the blocked vote. This organic law now heads to the Constitutional Council, where President Bassirou Diomaye Faye’s camp could once again prevail.

The organic bill n° 38/2026, which amends the organic law on finance laws (LOLF), was debated during Thursday’s plenary. Its stated goal is to strengthen budget transparency and regulate the management of special funds—credits often described as the presidency’s “slush fund.”

This is a second attempt. An initial initiative was struck down by the Constitutional Council on August 25, 2026, in decision n° 7/C/2026. The judges had then reminded that the status of public credits fell exclusively under the domain of organic law. Pastef lawmakers therefore returned with the correct legal vehicle, but on the substance, the disagreement with the Executive remains complete.

The government defends the president’s “social role”

Before the deputies, it was the Minister of Justice, Keeper of the Seals, Me Moussa Sarr, who carried the government’s position. While claiming to share the transparency objective, the Executive proposed deep adjustments.

The first disagreement concerns the nature of special funds. The bill sought to make them a distinct category, reserved for defense, security, and diplomacy missions. The government opposes this. According to the Executive, such a restriction would ignore the social character of the Republic enshrined in Article 1 of the Constitution. In its view, the head of state must be able to mobilize these resources for national solidarity actions in the face of humanitarian emergencies.

Through amendment n° 2, the Executive proposed reintegrating these expenses into the overall allocation of constitutional institutions, as provided in Article 14 of the LOLF. Me Moussa Sarr invoked directive n° 06/2009/CM/UEMOA, which sets a limitative list of budget allocations. Isolating special funds would, according to him, create a legal vacuum, as no authorizing officer would be designated.

The second point of friction concerns the deputies’ oversight powers, provided in Article 70. Through amendment n° 3, the government sought to limit the Finance Commission’s monitoring to the current annual management. This would remove the Assembly’s ability to control the use of credits at the end of each budget year. For the Keeper of the Seals, such a prerogative would encroach on the exclusive competences of the Court of Auditors.

The Executive also wanted any request for a minister’s hearing by deputies to be mandatorily transmitted to the President of the Republic, in accordance with the Assembly’s internal rules.

Heading to the Constitutional Council

To lock down the text, the government deployed the blocked vote. Me Moussa Sarr requested the application of Article 82, paragraph 4, of the Constitution and Article 87 of the internal rules, which impose a single vote on the text with only the amendments retained by the government. “The government does not see transparency as a constraint, but as a lever for consolidating the rule of law,” he argued, presenting the blocked vote as a tool provided by the Constitution to ensure the coherence of texts.

The Pastef majority did not follow. Deputies rejected all the Executive’s proposals to maintain their own version of the text. The disagreement between the Palace and the Hemicycle is now complete.

The outcome of this standoff will be decided before the judges. An organic law can only be promulgated after being declared constitutional by the Constitutional Council, seized by the President of the Republic. The text voted by the majority must therefore pass through this filter.

The government will then have several arguments: compliance with UEMOA directives, the competences of the Court of Auditors, and the regularity of the procedure after the rejection of a blocked vote that the Constitution nonetheless provides for. All points on which the judges will have to rule.