Senegal’s Prime Minister clamps down on excessive foreign travel by state officials

Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko has introduced stringent new guidelines to regulate the international travel of government ministers and directors-general, aiming to curb what he describes as unchecked administrative mobility.

In a decisive move to streamline public expenditure and reinforce accountability, Senegal’s Prime Minister has rolled out sweeping measures targeting the travel habits of senior officials. The reforms specifically address the frequent and often prolonged international trips taken by directors-general of state-owned enterprises and cabinet ministers.

Speaking on the new policy, Ousmane Sonko emphasized the need for stricter oversight, stating that ministerial travel requests are now subject to automatic review. Unlike ministers, directors-general had previously operated under more flexible arrangements, often citing their supervisory authorities to justify overseas missions.

« I now subject ministerial travel requests to near-automatic blocking, » he explained. « However, the travel of directors-general has remained largely unchecked, as they typically defer to their respective ministries for approval. »

The Prime Minister revealed that a recent audit of travel records over the past three months uncovered alarming patterns. « I requested a report on foreign travel over the last 90 days, and the findings were striking. Some directors-general spent up to 30 days abroad within a single quarter, with others racking up 20 or 15 days of overseas travel. »

In response, Ousmane Sonko announced a sweeping overhaul of the foreign mission validation system. Moving forward, all international travel by directors-general will require direct approval from the Prime Minister’s office. « This oversight gap will be closed, » he declared. « All future trips must be submitted to me for final clearance. »