Under fire from the opposition, the Senegalese Prime Minister tried on Sunday to put out the fire of the eviction of street vendors in Dakar and called for an “emergency development plan” for a strategic coastal site.
In Senegal, Ousmane Sonko kills two birds with one stone. Criticized by his opponents for his motivated refusal to appear at the National Assembly to make his general policy declaration, the Prime Minister tried to prevent his government from a new crisis: the eviction of street vendors underway in several municipalities in the country.
The latest operation, which affected traders in the populous Colobane market during the night from Friday to Saturday, not far from downtown Dakar, seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back, pushing the head of government to carry out a site visit on Sunday to “ deliver a message » from the Head of State, Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
« In recent days, the government has noted a sudden wave of evictions and decluttering undertaken by local authorities “, he declared the day before, on his Facebook page, as if surprised by the maneuver. It has outraged hundreds of street vendors in Colobane who say they only count on their small businesses in a country that has an exponential number of unemployed graduates, not to mention the young people who leave the rural world to come and find a way to make ends meet in the capital.
On social media, a video shows an angry lady crying over the destruction of her canteen by the town hall’s bulldozers when it was her only way to provide for her children. This act made her regret why she voted for the Diomaye Faye coalition during the last presidential election, classifying Ousmane Sonko, who ran for this candidate, in the category of politicians who do not keep their promises.
Sabotage
Conversely, local residents welcomed the evictions, noting that their living environment has long remained polluted by merchants who come to set up close to their homes if they do not place their stalls on the sidewalks and even on the road. Last February, three street vendors were killed by a driver who lost control of his truck, an accident which caused, in addition to emotion, a lot of material damage.
The Prime Minister’s visit to Colobane was therefore above all a political act. Some leaders of his party, the African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (Pastef), including MP Abass Fall, had preceded him on the scene to speak to the thousands of people who were gathered in the streets , assuring them that these evictions were not the work of the new regime but of certain politicians invested with a municipal mission who want “ sabotage » the work of government.
Taking a walk in the crowd, Ousmane Sonko did not stop himself from getting out of his vehicle without fear of being subjected to tear gas grenades, as he did a few months ago, during his strong opposition to the regime of President Macky Sall. (2012-2024). The leader of Pastef walked among the people as if to show his adversaries that he is still close to the population and his many sympathizers who cheer his name despite the pain of having been evicted. For long minutes, he listened to each party, from the prefect to local residents to traders, before speaking.
« The President of the Republic invites town halls to relax eviction and public highway clearance operations, by prioritizing communication and dialogue with street vendors “, said the head of government, accompanied by some of his ministers concerned by the issue.
“A serious fact”
Ousmane Sonko clarified that his visit to the Colobane market was only a pretext while the message from the President of the Republic that he was carrying was addressed to ” to all local authorities, to all traders in Dakar and the regions as well as to all populations living near markets ».
« Measures to evict street vendors from markets must be followed by support measures ” like resettlement plans, he argued, promising to discuss with municipalities to ” assess the compensation to be granted to impacted traders and the replacement solutions to be provided ».
A fine communicator in politics, the Prime Minister went a few moments later to the beach of Anse Bernard, located on the East Corniche, not far from the Palace of the Republic, to inform of what he calls “ a serious fact discovered during the ongoing investigations on the coast “. Mr. Sonko notes that this work, started last May, made it possible to discover that this site was divided up and sold to rich buyers under the old regime, preventing the population from accessing the beach.
« Some of the beneficiaries received 5,000 square metres of plots, 3,000 or 2,500 square metres for others, while this part falls within the maritime public domain. », he confided before inviting his Minister of Urban Planning, Territorial Communities and Territorial Planning to propose “ an emergency management plan » on the land of Anse Bernard.
« We are not going to let people take over this place in the public maritime domain. To this end, we are going to develop this site as part of an emergency programme to make it more welcoming to the public. ” assured the Prime Minister.
ODL/ac/APA
