Mamadou Moustapha Ba, the memory of a technocrat in the service of the State November 4, 2026

Two years after his disappearance on November 4, 2024 in France, at the age of 59, Mamadou Moustapha Ba remains associated with a long career devoted to public finances. A senior civil servant who became a minister under the Macky Sall regime, this caseworker left his mark on financial administration with his expertise and discretion.

Born on August 6, 1965 in Nioro du Rip, in the Kaolack region, Mamadou Moustapha Ba took the path of academic excellence very early on. After a baccalaureate obtained at the Military Prytanée of Saint-Louis, he continued his studies at the National School of Applied Economics (ENEA) in Dakar, from which he graduated in 1991.

Eager to deepen his knowledge, he continued his studies in Belgium, where he obtained a diploma in development policy as well as a master’s degree in management and public administration at the University of Antwerp.

His professional career really took shape in the early 1990s. In 1992, he joined the Ministry of the Economy and Finance, where he gradually built his reputation as a technician mastering the workings of financial administration. He then joined the Directorate of Economic and Financial Cooperation in the early 2000s.

In 2007, he became deputy director, before taking charge in May 2012. He held this position until October 2014. He then continued his rise within the financial administration and became Director General of the Budget, a strategic position that he held for several years.

September 17, 2022 marks a turning point in his career. President Macky Sall appointed him Minister of Finance and Budget, in the government led by Amadou Ba. He thus inherits a strategic portfolio, at the heart of the conduct of the country’s economic and budgetary policies. He will remain in this position until April 2024, becoming the last Minister of Finance and Budget of the Macky Sall regime.

But his career came to an abrupt end a few months after his departure from the government.

On November 4, 2024, Mamadou Moustapha Ba died in Paris, at the age of 59. If the official announcement of his disappearance comes on November 4, the circumstances of his death will quickly raise many questions. In France, investigations favor the theory of suicide, elements from video surveillance of the Paris metro having been mentioned by the press. In Senegal, the public prosecutor ordered, on November 10, the opening of an investigation after the results of the autopsy revealed evidence of an unnatural death. The lifting of the body and the burial, initially planned for this period, were then postponed.

The former minister will finally be buried on November 13, 2024 at the Nouroulaye cemetery in Nioro du Rip, his hometown. A crowd made up of members of his family, political leaders, former collaborators and administrative and religious figures paid him a last tribute. Several testimonies salute his professionalism, his availability, his sense of dialogue and his commitment to the service of the State.

Two years after his death, Mamadou Moustapha Ba remains a significant figure in Senegalese financial administration. Behind the minister, there was above all a senior civil servant who will have devoted more than three decades of his professional life to public finances. A journey whose memory remains attached to the great responsibilities he exercised in the service of his country.

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