ECONOMY-SENEGAL: High Stakes at Play in Bid to Privatize National Lottery

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Amadou Camara

DAKAR, May 6 2004 (IPS) - International Labour Day may already have come and gone – but workers’ rights remain at the top of the agenda in Senegal, where employees of the state-run Senegalese national lottery are poised to fight government’s decision to privatize the institution.

Established in 1987, the Loterie nationale sénégalaise (LONASE) is currently the only national lottery in Senegal. According to figures issued by the company and the Ministry of Finance, the past decade has seen LONASE’s turnover rise from about 3.6 million dollars (in 1993) to more than 52 million dollars in 2003.

But despite this impressive performance, the lottery is facing a 36.1 million dollar deficit in its operations. Authorities say privatization is the best route out of this quandary, which is blamed on poor management and high costs – particularly LONASE’s bloated wage bill.

At present, the lottery employs a thousand people, and has a network of 3,000 lottery ticket vendors. For their part, employees put the responsibility for the current mess firmly on the shoulders of management.

“The government’s arguments do not hold water. The deficit they’re talking about is the result of accumulated losses created by previous directors, who exercised poor management and helped themselves to company money to finance their political ambitions,” Mamadou Sarr of the National LONASE Workers Union told IPS.

The company was audited in 2000, and its former director, Abdoul Aziz Tall, found guilty of embezzlement. He was later imprisoned.

“If the company is in the red, it’s mainly because the government fails to honor its financial obligations to the company,” Sarr added. The ‘obligations’ he refers to consist of government’s promise in 2000 to absorb the company’s debts.

During a general meeting held last month in Senegal’s capital – Dakar – the workers voted to conduct an awareness campaign to warn the public about the dangers of privatizing LONASE. They have also vowed to lobby the leaders of Senegal’s political parties, and have set their sights on meeting President Abdoulaye Wade to voice disapproval of the government’s intentions.

Wade has previously shown resistance to privatizing LONASE, remarking dryly, “Only in Senegal do you see a gaming company with a deficit.” The head of state believes the lottery could still be turned into a lucrative concern.

The dangers of privatization, say the workers, have to do with the fact that it would put LONASE in foreign hands. They also fear layoffs.

“We are not going to let the government auction off LONASE and give it away to foreigners, who will have no scruples about throwing breadwinners out into the street,” says Mamadou Cisse, an official with the National Federation of Independent Unions to which the National LONASE Workers Union is affiliated.

So far, no prospective buyers for the company have been named, although there have been rumors in official circles that a French Corsican group is interested.

The opposition Alliance of Forces for Progress issued a press release last month accusing government of wanting to sell LONASE to buyers from “an international gaming lobby reputed to be involved in various types of unethical business practices” – but failed to give further details.

In addition, the press release speaks out against allowing foreign citizens to profit from a national asset – even though Finance Minister Cheikh Hadjibou Soumare has promised that a percentage of LONASE stock will be reserved for locals.

Another opposition party, the Union of African Workers/Senegal, has also registered its opposition to the government’s plans.

“Everyone knows that LONASE generates tons of revenue through the many services it offers. If it’s showing a deficit, it’s because the government is not honoring its own commitments to it,” party leader El Hadji Momar Samb told IPS.

“Our party is against this privatization, which does not correspond to the aspirations of the workers and the Senegalese people.”

Civil society has its own concerns about the matter.

“The government does not have the right to privatize a company as big as LONASE, which was built by the Senegalese people themselves. It should not risk mortgaging the company workers’ futures,” observed Moussa Ndiaye, a member of the Senegalese Civil Forum.