So much for a united front. Just over a year after sweeping to power on a promise to clean up Senegalese politics, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and his former right-hand man Ousmane Sonko are at each other's throats - and a new law forcing leaders to show us the money is right at the centre of it.

Here's the story, as reported by cbinews.tv:

In a rather punchy session on Monday, Senegal's National Assembly voted through a major transparency reform. By 133 votes to 165, deputies approved a law that says the big three - the President, the Prime Minister and the Speaker of Parliament - must now declare *and publish* their assets within three months of taking office and do it all over again within three months of leaving.

Sounds basic? It is, but it's a huge shift.

A bit of context - this has been a long time coming

Senegal has had asset declaration on the books since the 2001 Constitution, which put transparency and good governance right in its preamble. But in practice, it was patchy, confidential, and as civil society groups like Forum Civil have long argued, largely kept behind closed doors with criminal penalties for leaking.

That model looked very European-light. Now parliament wants a European-heavy version: full publication, lower thresholds, and mandatory audit reports going public.

Why now? Two words: hidden debt.

When Faye and Sonko took over in April 2024 after 12 years of Macky Sall, they discovered misreported debt that blew up Senegal's public finances. The IMF froze its $1.8 billion programme, growth forecasts have been slashed from 6.7% in 2025 to around 2.2-2.5% for 2026, and Dakar is scrambling for a financial adviser to sort out the mess. Transparency isn't just a slogan anymore - it's a condition for getting cash.

The twist: The ruling camp can't agree on its own law

This is where it gets messy, and very Senegalese.

The bill was introduced by Pastef's parliamentary majority - led by Sonko himself - and initially only targeted the President. It was later widened to include the Speaker and PM.

But not everyone in Pastef is cheering. Some deputies warned the law could be weaponised to weaken or target President Faye. Justice Minister Moussa Sarr tried to cool tempers, saying the reform would make more sense as part of a broader constitutional referendum - which Faye has said he wants to hold, date TBC.

And that rift? It's now official.

Faye sacked Sonko as Prime Minister on 22 May 2026, citing what he called "excessive personalisation" of power. Days later, in a proper parliamentary plot twist, 132 of the 165 MPs reinstated Sonko as an MP and elected him Speaker of the National Assembly. Pastef still holds around 130 of the 165 seats, so Faye is president, but Sonko controls the chamber that approves key decisions.

Since then, it has been tit-for-tat. Sonko has pushed hard for constitutional reforms that would, among other things, bar a sitting president from leading a party, while Faye has responded by launching his own vehicle, Kiiraay - Republican Patriots, "shield" in Wolof - formalising the split.

Critics have called Sonko's transparency push an attempted power grab, and last week Senegal's Constitutional Court, after a referral from Faye, actually called the parliament-backed reform "unconstitutional" over procedural violations - though Sonko said on X he respected the decision.

So, we have a law that passed overwhelmingly, but may not survive the courts, between two men who were once political mentor and protégé - Sonko picked the little-known Faye to run when he himself was barred in 2024, then made him PM.

For ordinary Senegalese, many of them young people who voted for Pastef's anti-establishment promise, the question is simple: if you both promised jub, jubal and jubanti (Wolof for transparency and accountability), who is actually going to show us the receipts?

As cbinews.tv understands it, this asset disclosure row is now more than anti-corruption - it's a proxy war ahead of local elections in 2027 that will test who really owns the Pastef revolution: Faye in the Palace, or Sonko in Parliament.

We'll be watching.

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