Senegal statue triggers controversy - 27 Sept 09

It's been almost a decade since Senegal's president swept to power with an election campaign slogan of change. Abdoulaye Wade's victory ended 40 years of Socialist Party leadership in the West African nation.

Now, this Washington ally is under mounting pressure to quit. Critics accuse the octogenarian leader of mismanagement and nepotism and, lately, a towering, multimillion-dollar presidential indulgence.

EnlargeOfeibea Quist-Arcton/NPR The nearly complete bronze statue dubbed the Monument of the African Renaissance in November. It's impossible to miss Senegal's new 160-foot African renaissance monument. Perched high on a hill, the mighty Soviet-style bronze statue of a man, woman and child overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and dominates the horizon of the capital, Dakar.

A year or so in the building, the president's $27 million project is very nearly complete. Wade says the statue symbolizes the triumph of African liberation from centuries of ignorance, intolerance and racism, and he hopes it will rival the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower in Paris as a tourist destination.

But his opponents argue that the colossal creation  -  built by North Koreans  -  says more about poor governance than African renaissance.

"People are so frustrated by this," says opposition leader Abdoulaye Bathily.

Bathily says the statue is the product of a power-drunk president. "The economy has collapsed. ... The education system is in a crisis. The health system is in crisis. And yet Abdoulaye Wade is squandering public money," Bathily says. "So all these things, people are seeing it, and it is creating so much frustration." {Read on}