Senegal to Appoint New Vice-President

04 June 2009

On Tuesday Senegal’s parliament approved a bill to create a new of position of vice president which will be appointed by the president, 82 year old Abdoulaye Wade, but will not succeed him as head of state. There have been concerns that this will be used as a tool for Wade’s son Karim to become president but Justice Minister Madicke Niang and the president himself have disputed the claim. Niang previously defended the vice-presidency role saying it would give the government a better public presence and allow it to pay more attention to citizens’ needs.

The legislation must now be signed by President Wade to officially become law.