Mamadou Dia

Mamadou Dia (18 July 1910 – 25 January 2009) was a Senegalese politician who served as the first Prime Minister of Senegal from 1957 until 1962, when he was forced to resign and was subsequently imprisoned amidst allegations that he was planning to stage a military coup to overthrow President Léopold Sédar Senghor.

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 the faith of Sufi Islam to his son and was an important example of rectitude for Dia.

A former pupil of the Blanchot elementary school in Saint-Louis, Dia began his more formal education in a Quranic school and transitioned into receiving a Western education at the École William Ponty, the principal training ground of the elite in French Africa in the 1920s and 30s.

Eventually, he pursued graduate studies in economics at the University of Paris.

Before entering politics in the early 1940s (becoming motivated to so only after the Vichy regime collapsed), he worked as a journalist, teacher and school director.

Dia embarked on his political career 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 1948.

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).

During his two terms as a senator, Mamadou Dia voted for the ratification of the Atlantic Pact (July 28, 1949), the Marie law favorable to private education (September 12), and the ratification of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (1st 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 concerns of the overseas territories.

Dia was one of the main figures (namely, the Vice Premier) of the abortive Mali Federation of Senegal and Sudanese Republic (later Mali) until its collapse.

With Senghor, Dia formed the African Convention Party (PCA) in January 1957 from the BDS.

When French President Charles de Gaulle proposed a referendum on the French community in 1958, Dia and Senghor held opposite views of the proposal: Dia favored breaking with France, whereas Senghor hoped to keep Senegal in the community.

Once Senegalese independence became official on August 20, 1960, he became Prime Minister, in tandem with Senghor as President of the Republic of Senegal.

Senghor, as a Catholic in a largely Islamic country, valued having a widely connected and able Muslim as his deputy.

However, Dia’s time 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 participation in the legislature, Mamadou Dia was accused of plotting a coup against President Senghor.

However, the accusers did not produce definitive evidence of their claim.

It was taken at the time as a classic example of the difficulties of power sharing in newly-formed 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).

The pair's different views concerning the economy contributed greatly to their split: there was a serious liberal and pro-French versus conservative and patriotic policy divide.

In fact, Dia began to implement some of the ideas he had articulated in his book Réflexions sur l'Économie de l'Afrique Noire (1960).

In so doing, he caused concern among the Marabouts, powerful religious leaders who controlled the groundnut business and ran counter to French interests.

As result of the grave power struggle between the two former political allies, a group of dissident parliamentarians whom Senghor supported tabled a motion of no confidence against the government—thus against Dia.

He responded by invoking his executive powers and ordering the army to lock the assembly building before the parliament could vote on the motion.

Senghor declared that Dia attempted a coup and mobilized the army, whom allied themselves with Senghor overall.

Dia and several of his ministers were arrested and tried for treason.

Eventually, he was forced to resign and received a sentence of life imprisonment subsequently.

He was noted especially for his attacks on the neo-liberal economic policies of the current president, Abdoulaye Wade, who had been one of the lawyers who defended Dia in 1963.

Initially sentenced to imprisonment in the eastern town of Kédougou, he was pardoned by President Senghor on March 27, 1974 and granted amnesty in 1976.

His lost political power did not break his spirit.

Dia attempted to restart his career in the early 1980s when Abdou Diouf introduced multiparty democracy, but the small, Dia-led 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 influence on 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 even acquired the role of national treasure, as he continued to write diatribes in the local press well into his 90s regularly.

In his book “Africa, the Price of Freedom” (2001, edited by L'Harmattan) he stated his belief that he was born (according to some papers belonging to his father he had found) in July 1911, not 1910.

A teacher altered official documents to allow him to pass the competition for the William Ponty school, as he would have been too young to compete otherwise.

When he died aged 98 in Dakar on 25 January 2009, there was a massive outpouring of sentiment in national newspapers due to admiration for his obdurate attachment to his principles.

"Dia ne s’est jamais défait de son idéalisme pour devenir un homme d’État"

When Léopold Senghor (Catholic) and Mamadou Dia (Muslim) led Senegal to independence, they had very clear ideas of what ideological and philosophical values would form the basis of the new State.