Mamadou Dia

Of rural origin, Mamadou Dia was born in Khombole, in the Thies Region of Senegal, on 18 July 1910. His father, a veteran turned into a policeman, played a key role in transmitting him faith to Sufi Islam and was an important example of rectitude.

Former pupil of the Blanchot elementary school in Saint-Louis, began his education in a Quranic school to later move into western education at the École William Ponty,principal training ground of the elite in French Africa in the 20s and 30s. Eventually, he persuaded graduate studies in economics at the University of Paris. Before entering politics (became motivated to so only after Vichy regime collapsed) in the early 1940s, he worked as journalist, teacher and school director.

In his book “Africa, the price of freedom” (2001, edited by L'Harmattan) he stated to believe to be actually born (according to some papers belonging to his father he had found) in July 1911.  It has been a teacher who made him one year older on official documents to allow him to pass the competition for the William Ponty school, as otherwise he would have been too young to candidate.

Dia started life in politics in 1947 as a leader in the Grand Council of the Afrique occidentale française (AOF) and as Secretary General of the Senegalese Democratic Bloc (BDS) from the following year. He served in the French Senate from 1948 to 1956 and as deputy in the French National Assembly from 1956 to 1958, sitting with the parliamentary group of Overseas Independent (IOM). With Senghor, Dia formed the African Convention Party (PCA) in January 1957 from the BDS. When Charles de Gaulle proposed a referendum on the French community in 1958, the two leaders stand by two opposite positions: Dia is in favor of a break with France, while Senghor wants to keep Senegal in the community,

During his two terms as a senator, Mamadou Dia voted for the ratification of the Atlantic Pact (July 28, 1949), voted for the law Marie favorable to private education (September 12), and declared himself in favor of the ratification of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (1 st April 1952). On March 26, 1955, he opposed plans relating to the WEU, the end of the occupation in Germany, its entry into NATO and the Saar Agreement. It approved the draft law on state of emergency in Algeria (1 st April) and abstained on the draft electoral reform restoring the district election (15 November). He was also an active member of parliament, being a frequent speaker and devoting himself to the problems of the overseas territories.

Dia was one of the main figures (namely vice premier) of the abortive Mali Federation of Senegal and Sudanese Republic (later Mali) until its collapse.[2] Once independence has been proclaimed on August 20, 1960, he became Prime minister, in tandem with Senghor as President of the Republic of Senegal who, as a Catholic in a largely Islamic country, valued having a widely connected and able Muslim as his deputy. His time served as Prime Minister was often controversial and his radical socialist views often clashed with those of the more moderate Senghor.

After slightly more than two years of legislature, Mamadou Dia was at the center of his country's first major post-independence crisis in December 1962, when he unsuccessfully attempted to stage a constitutional coup against Senghor. It was taken at the time as a classic example of the difficulties of power sharing in new-born states: Dia embodied the summit of the State in a two-headed parliamentary system (economic and internal policy for him, foreign policy for the President).

However, different views with regards to the economy, played a major role: there was a serious liberal versus radical policy divide. In fact, Dia began to implement some of the radical ideas he had articulated in his book Réflexions sur l'Économie de l'Afrique Noire (1960), which rose concern among the Marabouts, the powerful religious leaders who controlled the groundnut business, and runs counter to French interests.

As result of the grave power struggle between the two former political allies, a group of dissident parliamentarians motivated by Senghor, tabled a motion of no confidence against the government, thus on Dia. He responded by invoking executive powers and ordering the army to lock the assembly building before the vote could be taken. Senghor charged it as an attempted coup, in turn calling out the army, which was in the majority loyal to him. Dia and several of his ministers were arrested and tried for treason. Eventually, he was forced to resign and subsequently imprisoned (initially sentenced to life in prison) in the eastern town of Kédougou, until 1974, but later pardoned (1974) and given amnesty (1976).

His political power may have been broken but not his spirit. Dia attempted to restart his career in the early 1980s, once multiparty democracy had been introduced by Abdou Douf, but the small party he led (the People Democratic Movement) found little support. Thus, he never returned to a position of power; however, he remained an iconic figure in Senegalese politics, retaining an intellectual and moral place in the country. He accompanied the Senegalese state during the years of decolonization and remained one of the main figures in the construction of modern Senegal. He gradually acquired the role of national treasure, as he continued regularly to write diatribes in the local press well into his 90s. He was noted for his attacks on the neo-liberal economic policies of the current president, Abdoulaye Wade, who ironically had been one of the lawyers who defended Dia in 1963. After his death on 25 January 2009 (at the age of 98, in Dakar), there was a massive outpouring of sentiment in national newspapers due to admiration for his obdurate attachment to principles.

"Dia ne s’est jamais defait de son idealism pour devenir un homme d’Etat"[3]