Cheikh Hamidou Kane, nicknamed "Mathaira,"[1] (18 December 1939[2] - 15 May 2009) was a Senegalese politician and economist who served as a government minister several times during Abdou Diouf's presidency.
He studied on his own for the baccalaureat and then enrolled at the Cheikh Anta Diop University and then in the economic and financial department of the École nationale d'administration, from which he received his diploma in 1967.
He then travelled to France for the first time, visiting the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the prefecture of Poitiers before returning to Senegal.
He lost his ministerial role in 2000, after Abdoulaye Wade and the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) came to power.
He was involved in the campaigns for the local elections in 2009, but after several months of illness he travelled to France to receive treatment and then returned to Senegal.