The winning leadership of Oumar Ba, new president of the WAEMU Council of Local Authorities
Local leader Oumar Ba is forging a strong regional stature on the continent with his election to head the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) Council of Local Authorities on August 21, 2023.
Mayor since 2014 of the Commune of Ndiob, located in the West of Senegal in the department of Fatick, Mr. Oumar Ba is in his second term of office, a testament to the constant and renewed trust of the population. Since December 2022, he has been President of the Association of Mayors of Senegal (AMS), which is not an unfamiliar ground, having been Vice-President of the AMS for 7 years and Permanent Secretary of the same body for 5 years.
After leaving the civil service, he got closer to the people by becoming actively involved in associations. After more than 30 years of professional experience, he is now a recognized player in local development.
An ambitious leader, ecologist and defender of territorial equity, he aspires, in particular, as mayor, to make Ndiob a green and resilient city, as President of the AMS, to re-empower the position of mayor, and as President of the WAEMU Council of Local Authorities, to “transform the vision of our heads of State into reality”.
Committed to safeguarding the environment, biodiversity and the fight against climate change, he chairs the Supervisory Board of the Senegalese Agency for Reforestation and Grande Muraille, as well as the Network of Green and Ecological Communities of Senegal (REVES). He also brings his strong participation and significant contributions to global climate summits.
His commitment and actions to promote agroecology, agroforestry and renewable energies have earned him several international distinctions. At the 2018 Africities Summit in Marrakech, UCLG Africa awarded him the Best Initiatives Prize for the implementation of his “Green and Resilient Commune” project. The same year, his green vision earned him a trophy for the best local agricultural policy by the FAO at the general assembly held in Rome. In 2021, the city of Ndiob was designated West Africa’s most ecological commune at the African Ecology Awards in Côte d’Ivoire.
Committed to the African cause, Mr. Oumar Ba advocates South-South cooperation. At the annual meeting of the UCLG World CIB working group (May 15-18, 2023, Marrakech), he stressed the importance of creating support mechanisms for decentralized cooperation specific to African countries.