Senegal's civic, political class reacts to Karim Wade's release

The release of former Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade’s son Karim wade has drawn mixed reactions from the country’s political class, including the opposition’s Senegalese Democratic Party.

Anti-corruption activists also contested the liberation, terming it as politically influenced.

“What happened is pure politics. Because he was released at midnight and after he left Senegal and nobody was aware, that’s unusual. Karim Wade stole this country’s money. We must condemn his acts, he should have served his sentence,” Moustapha Dieye a Senegalese citizen told AFP.

Two days before his release, Karim Wade had also been appointed a candidate of the Senegalese Democratic Party, and his supporters claim that the case against him was a political move intended to eliminate dissent.

“What’s unimaginable is waking up one morning to the news that someone who had been locked for three years has been pardoned. I say he did nothing . If he had done any wrong he would not have been the freed. I cannot condemn him for being freed, three years later,” said a man only identified as Racine

“If we must prob into the wealth of most people now, then everyone would be in prison. So I find his release totally normal and I don’t even agree with the fact that he had been locked up,” said Diakhite another Senegalese resident.

Wade was immediately flown to Qatar after President Macky Sall’s decree early Friday. A press release from the presidency however said the payment of the fine was not covered by the pardon.