Sonko bans insults, calls for discipline at PASTEF congress

Ousmane Sonko used the PASTEF congress at Dakar Arena to mark the end of behavioural laxity and to steer his movement toward a deep refoundation of its militant ideology. The leader of the Patriots firmly banned the culture of insults that has long marked public discourse. “Nicknames, taunts and insults must no longer be part of PASTEF,” he declared. Anticipating provocation tactics from opponents, he demanded from his followers a posture of high responsibility and absolute respect towards institutions, traditional chiefs and religious authorities.

Sonko places this disciplinary overhaul at the core of a formidable strategy for structuring and electoral conquest. Dismissing the recent departure of a few executives as anecdotal, the PASTEF president set ambitious organisational goals to saturate the political landscape: selling one million membership cards and deploying ten thousand grassroots cells. By ordering his supporters to “travel across the country” and drive massive voter registration, he is definitively transforming his movement into a party of order and government, fully focused on upcoming elections.