If there was a World Cup for government reshuffles, then Senegal under President Abdoulaye Wade would surely beat all-comers.

On 24 June a new government was named. The incumbent prime minister, Souleymane Ndéné Ndiaye, was reappointed, but there was a considerable turnover of ministers, including a larger number of female ministers.

On 28 June, the first amendment to this government was made. The Minister for Human Rights was replaced. Seneweb reproduces a report claiming that the former minister, who was born in 1984, resigned because she had not yet finished her studies. Apparently, her appointment provoked “hilarity” in the ranks of the ruling PDS party.

Now, such a quick change is hardly unprecedented. However, it corresponds to a certain pattern in Senegal. For example, Souleymane Ndéné Ndiaye was named as prime minister on 30 April 2009. In the period to the end of 2009, there were no fewer than nine further ministerial changes, the first of which came on 4 May 2009! In 2000 one minister did not last long enough to attend the first Council of Ministers. By 2005 there had already been six Ministers of Health. Seneweb links to another report, which calculates that overall there have been 122 different ministers since President Wade took office in April 2000.

It might be added that there has also been considerable constitutional instability during Wade’s president. When he took office in 2000, President Wade started work on a new constitution that came into force in January 2001. Since then, I calculate that there have been 15 separate constitutional laws changing ‘Wade’s’ constitution.