In the back of his motorbike taxi, Ibrahima Fall keeps a worn-out copy of an American self-help book called “The Compound Effect.” Printed across its cover is a question: “Do you want more success than you have now?”
Mr. Fall certainly does. When the 25-year-old completed his information technology degree, he dreamed of starting his own business in that field. But he says the economic climate made that impossible, and instead he ended up ferrying passengers and parcels through the smoggy city on his bike.
Weaving through Dakar’s heavy traffic, he often sees his classmates doing the same work, and thinks to himself: It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused on
Young Africans are driving political change across the continent. But in Senegal, the president they swept into office last year has left many young voters disillusioned.
Last March, young people like Mr. Fall propelled a firebrand opposition candidate, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, to a landslide victory in Senegal’s presidential election. The new administration vowed to create jobs, govern more transparently, and end Senegal’s dependence on foreign aid. But a year later, many young people say they have little to show for those promises.
“None were kept,” Mr. Fall says. “I don’t see any real change.”
“Sold … a dream”
The leafy campus of Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD) is a haven of peace in Senegal’s bustling capital. Birdsong and the sound of the nearby ocean fill the air as students sit in groups chatting, or hurry to classes. There are few clues that two years ago, this campus was ground zero for a massive uprising against the administration of then-President Macky Sall.
In June 2023, a popular opposition leader named Ousmane Sonko was sentenced to jail on charges connected to a sexual assault. His supporters claimed the conviction was politically motivated, engineered to keep him out of the upcoming presidential contest.
As mass protests broke out, Mr. Sonko’s supporters stormed UCAD’s campus, setting buildings on fire and destroying archives. The campus shuttered, and remained closed for nearly a year.
However, young people continued to protest in support of Mr. Sonko, and later, when it became clear he would not be allowed to run, they threw their support behind the chosen candidate from his Pastef party, Mr. Faye.
When Mr. Faye was elected with 54% of the vote, “We thought it would be a revolution, that everything would get better,” says Cheikh Omar Gaye, a UCAD student. Instead, he says he feels he was “sold … a dream.”
Indeed, although Senegal’s economy doesn’t appear to have worsened under Mr. Faye, it hasn’t improved, which has upset many young voters.
Fatou Kharma, who is in her late 20s, is one of them. She runs a small sewing store in a working-class district of the capital. But she says she has far fewer customers than last year. As a result, her income has dropped and she is struggling to feed her two children.
For their part, Mr. Faye and Mr. Sonko, the prime minister, say the country’s current economic troubles are not their fault, since they inherited a country that the previous administration left “in ruins.”
Indeed, a Senegalese auditing watchdog recently found that Mr. Sall’s outgoing administration had misrepresented the country’s debt and budget deficit. As a result, international creditors like the International Monetary Fund withheld support, and Senegal’s credit rating was downgraded.
Senegal’s new government has had to delay infrastructure projects and cut public spending. According to Boubacar Fall, head of a recently formed group representing laid-off workers, these cuts have resulted in around 30,000 job losses, mostly in road construction and maintenance. The government has not released official figures.
High expectations
Mr. Faye says patience is needed to rebuild. And his administration has made a number of high-profile reforms to show voters they are serious about change. For instance, in June 2024, the government announced a reduction in the prices of basic necessities such as bread, oil, and sugar, in response to strong public demand.
It has also launched a judicial financial task force to tackle corruption, targeting a key grievance among voters. And in March, the new administration promised to create 3,500 new jobs for young people by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, voters gave an early show of support to Pastef when they handed the party an absolute majority in the November parliamentary election. “But expectations remain high, and transformative reforms must accelerate, or the government risks losing this electorate’s trust,” says Babacar Ndiaye, a political analyst with the Senegalese think tank Wathi.
The new government is also facing unexpected hurdles, including the abrupt suspension of U.S. Agency for International Development funding, which has had a particularly harmful effect on the country’s health sector.
Yacine Demba, a community organizer in her late 20s, says economic conditions are worsening in her neighborhood. She recently distributed food kits containing rice, sugar, and oil to people in need. Last year around the same time, her association helped 30 families. This year, 58 showed up. In her community, “More and more people are hungry,” she says.
Demba Ba, who is in his mid-20s, says he placed great hope in the new government. It inspired him to hold on and believe in change. But since the election, he has juggled odd jobs and still struggles to support his sick mother.
Standing on Dakar’s coastal road, he looks out at the sea stretching before him. He is considering paying a smuggler to take him by boat to the Canary Islands, where he hopes the future will be brighter.
