February 13, 2000
Matar Gaye
PANA Correspondent
DAKAR, Senegal (PANA) - Mademba Sock, one of the eight candidates in the 27 February presidential elections, says he is the most qualified to run for the country's high office.
He considers himself to be in a better position to handle the urgent business of redistributing wealth and containing the many problems facing Senegal.
"The authority of the state must be restored, safety guaranteed for the people, corruption rooted out and family values and national loyalty rehabilitated", the independent candidate emphasised.
The union leader is no stranger to the tug-of-war between workers and the authorities. He was instrumental to the creation of a second autonomous labour union outside the authority of the National Confederation of Senegalese Workers(CNTS), which is close to the ruling Socialist Party.
He exerted a lot of energy in fighting the partial privatisation of the National Electricity Board (Senelec).
"Because I feel the pulse and vibrations of the people with whom I share the same pains and concerns, I have accepted to get involved in the presidential battle", he said.
The career of Mademba Sock, a 49 year-old accountant, illustrates a strong commitment to the cause of labour which has seen him in and out of prison on several occasions.
He was first imprisoned for "illegally organising a strike and destruction of public property."
Mademba Sock is a founding member of the Union of Electricity Workers and has served as its secretary general since 1987.
Three years later, he was also elected secretary general of the Union of Senegalese Autonomous Trade Unions.
Sock is popular with the workers because of his eloquence.
However, Sock the presidential candidate is very evasive when it comes to what he would do if he won the election.
His leitmotiv remains the "quality of human capital" available in the country. With such an asset, he plans to build a "corruption-free" society.
"I have been working on my political agenda for close to a year now", according to Sock, who has been jobless a year, after he was fired from the National Electricity Board.
His departure from Senelec, for organising a strike and vandalisation of the Board's equipment, was perceived by many observers as the outcome of the arm-twisting tactics of the management of the electricity board at a time when the company was in the process of being privatised.
The labour freedom committee at the International Labour Office criticised the Senegalese government over the poor treatment meted out to the union leaders.
Sock says the struggle in which 10 union leaders lost their jobs, was justified by the need to defend national property.
"Senelec is a profitable company which, on the grounds of national sovereignty, should remain the property of the Senegalese people", he told PANA, adding that his decision to run for the office of president is an extension of his union activities.
He said he is aware of the raging controversy between the ministry of interior and the opposition over voters' cards ordered from Israel.
But he disagrees with the manner in which the "crisis" is being handled.
"There should have been a very strong co-ordinated action to force the ministry of the interior to print new voters' cards under the supervision of the National Election Observatory, he suggested.
Even so, he does not approve calls from the other members of the opposition that the elections be postponed, saying it should be conducted using the existing voters cards.
On his political future, the independent candidate said he would wait until the results are published before making a statement.
He has no plans to set up a political party after the election.
"The movement of supporters backing me is more important than the creation of another opposition party which would only add to the already long list of officially recognised political groupings in Senegal", Sock added.
Senegal has some forty officially recognised political parties.
"My performance will dictate my future attitude" in the political landscape, Sock said.
Sock, father of seven children, said he is running for election with a budget of 4 million CFA francs (about 6,700 US dollars) contributed by his unemployed colleagues.
He vowed he would never accept a political appointment from the government.
"I will not be part of any expanded presidential majority cabinet. I am very young compared to the best candidates. My day will come and I'll wait for it.
"In democracy, some people must remain in opposition while others rule," he concluded.