Karim Meïssa Wade (born 1 September 1968) is a Senegalese politician who served in the government of Senegal as Minister of State for International Cooperation, Regional Development, Air Transport, and Infrastructure from May 2009 to April 2012. He is the son of Abdoulaye Wade, who was President of Senegal from 2000 to 2012. Before joining the government, Karim Wade was President of the National Agency for the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (Agence Nationale de l'Organisation de la Conférence Islamique, ANOCI) and served as an advisor to his father. He was widely seen as a possible successor to his father as president, and his father was widely believed to be grooming him for the position.
Early life
Wade, the son of Abdoulaye Wade and his French wife Viviane Wade, was born in Paris on 1 September 1968. He attended primary school at the French-Senegalese School of Dakar (part of the les Maristes Cours Sainte Marie de Hann) and completed his secondary education at the School of Saint Martin of France, where he obtained his Baccalaureate degree.
He then attended the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne where he obtained a bachelor's degree in Management Science followed by a master's degree in Financial Engineering.
Career
Karim's father, Abdoulaye Wade, was elected as President of Senegal in the 2000 presidential election after decades in opposition. In 2002, Karim Wade was named Personal Advisor to the President of the Republic, in charge of implementing major restructuring projects, among which were the New International Airport of Diass, the restructuring of Chemical Industries of Senegal (Industries Chimiques du Senegal, ICS), and the creation of the special integrated economic zone of Dakar.
In June 2004, Wade was named President of ANOCI, whose mission was to prepare and organize the 11th Islamic Summit. The ANOCI team worked to create a so-called modern transportation infrastructure, rebuilding the Corniche Ouest, and developing public works such as the Soumbedioune Tunnel and the Northern Corridor Highway exchanges. Critics complained that Wade exceeded his budget as President of ANOCI.
On 26 August 2008, Wade met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss a project for the installation of a nuclear power station in Senegal. This would ease the problem of electrical power generation which had confronted the country for many years.
2009 Dakar election and ministerial appointment
Karim Wade ran for office for the first time in the March 2009 local election in Dakar. Although Wade won a seat as a municipal councillor, the opposition won a majority of seats and thus gained control of Dakar's municipal government; the outcome was considered to be a political humiliation for Wade. Souleymane Ndéné Ndiaye was subsequently appointed Prime Minister, and met with Karim Wade on 1 May 2009; at that meeting he offered Wade a position in the government, which Wade accepted. Later the same day, Wade was appointed Minister of State for International Cooperation, Regional Development (Aménagement du territoire), Air Transport, and Infrastructure.
Members of the opposition suggested that Wade and his father had originally planned to use local power in Dakar to position him for the presidential succession, but that the plan had been thwarted due to the opposition victory in Dakar. Consequently, according to the speculation, Wade would instead be positioned for the succession through control of a key ministry. In the press, Wade's ministry was described as the largest ever in Senegal since its independence, and Wade was compared to Ali Bongo, son of Gabonese President Omar Bongo, who was also thought to be positioned for the presidential succession through control of a key ministry. President Wade consistently dismissed claims that he was preparing his son for the succession, describing Karim as an ordinary citizen.
The office building in which Karim Wade worked caught on fire on 1 October 2009 due to an electrical problem, and Wade was rescued from the building by French and Senegalese firefighters. In December 2009, when defending Senegal's construction of a massive "African Renaissance" statue from imam claims that it was "idolatrous", President Wade compared the statue to Christian statues of Jesus Christ. Although he used the comparison to counter the suggestion that the statue was idolatrous, some Christians angrily protested his remarks, and Wade sent Karim to deliver an apology to Theodore Adrien Sarr, the Archbishop of Dakar.