"I prefer to collect 300 or 500 million and turn a blind eye to the 10 billion in revenue that must come into the coffers. It is a scourge that must be fought. And every civil servant must understand that you cannot be a billionaire by being a civil servant. It is impossible. If you want to become a billionaire, you must make another choice. To go and undertake while praying to the Lord to bless your activities." These words were made by Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, regarding the corruption that plagues the public administration, during the presentation of the National Agenda for the Transformation of the Public Service, which took place this Monday, August 4, at the Abdou Diouf International Conference Center (CICAD).

The head of government recalled that salaries in the administration, including at the highest levels of responsibility, cannot match certain fortunes accumulated by public officials. He declared: "In recent years, we have observed this phenomenon, and it has not sufficiently dissuaded the Senegalese from seeing civil servants being attributed indecent levels of wealth, which nothing can justify, whatever the level of remuneration in the civil service." He noted: "We are in a country where the President of the Republic receives less than 5 million CFA francs, the Prime Minister, 4 million and some in salaries, the ministers receive less than 4 million or 3 million and some. How can a civil servant be a multi-millionaire or a billionaire in his country? It is impossible."

Ousmane Sonko stated that this is why "we welcome the initiatives taken by the President of the Republic regarding the transparency fund, with several laws, including a law reforming OFNAC, a law that will protect more and more whistleblowers. "And many other laws already validated by the Council of Ministers or which will still be. Corruption is a gangrene that exists in all countries, but statistically, it has been shown that it is in underdeveloped countries that it prevails more than in other countries," he specified.