As mayor, Ousmane Sonko had sworn to manage the city of Ziguinchor better than any other of his predecessors. The commitment was touching and the new mayor, elected on January 23, 2022, with 56.31% under the banner of the Coalition Yewwi askan wi (Yaw), was installed on February 10, 2022. One year after taking office, we are forced to note that the results that he will be able to present to his fellow citizens are far from brilliant. The Ziguinchorois can even say they are somewhat disillusioned. The first promise that Ousmane Sonko betrayed was that of being a resident mayor, who shares the daily life of his constituents. In any case, he does not seem to make the city of Ziguinchor his priority, while the Pastéfiens saw the example of Ziguinchor as their laboratory or their model of know-how in public management.
The Mayor had fought his campaign around this principle, which could not be more logical, to be on the spot and to remain accessible to the populations. But the days of presence of Ousmane Sonko at the level of his commune are to be counted, and the other members of his family, wives and children, would find it difficult to find the way to the residence of the Mayor of Ziguinchor in the district of Néma.
The absences of the Mayor are especially noticed on the occasion of major religious or social events. The Mayor missed the inauguration of the Saint-Antoine de Padoue Cathedral, as well as the various ritual prayer ceremonies at the Grand Mosque during the Tabaski or Korité festivals. The famous French humorist Guy Bedos, said in a beautiful formula that « being ready to die for the people does not mean that you are ready to live with them ». The new mayor said he had great ambitions for his town and had set out a roadmap, admittedly controversial, including his stillborn idea of establishing a local currency in Casamance. But the new impetus, which had given rise to a lot of hope, seems to be falling, not to say breaking. The Mayor’s calendar in his city is punctuated by his political activities, to run for the presidency of the Republic or to organise marches.
The opposition had already enthroned Ziguinchor as its new capital and all the major meetings of leaders were held there, with the city hosting their national marches during which public and private property may have been destroyed. None of this has any bearing on the improvement of the living conditions of the populations. Quite the contrary! « The Mayor has not yet done anything » is the watchword of the inhabitants of Ziguinchor. Only, exasperation wins them over and even more, some decisions arouse anger.
Students and Traders Boo the Mayor Through Concerts of Pans
These two categories of the population were the most heard in a noisy opposition against certain decisions of the new municipal team. The Mayor has doubled the municipal taxes relating to commercial activities, in particular the taxes for « occupation of the public domain ». The wrath of traders is all the more intense as the Mayor has broken with the practice of a calendar programming of fairs established by the team of former mayor Abdoulaye Baldé. From now on, fairs can be organised at any moment, at any time, simply by paying the established taxes. However, the frequency of fairs competes with traditional businesses established in the city.
It should be noted that one of the first public acts taken by the Mayor was to cancel a fair on March 11, 2022, because the promoter Ms Ramatoulaye Sow allegedly failed to specify in the documents presented to the town hall that the fair had a commercial vocation, despite the fact that the Mayor’s office had already issued it with a proper authorisation and the required taxes had been paid. Ms Ramatoulaye Sow brandished her various documents in front of the media taking offence at the error. The Mayor had to give up his idea of introducing an exceptional tax for drinking establishments, because his allies made him understand that touching this activity in the city could cause discontent.
Students from Ziguinchor, enrolled in universities in Dakar, had also expressed their dissatisfaction with a noisy concert of saucepans, which had ended in scuffles which had forced the Mayor to seek refuge at the gendarmerie to save himself from their fury. The Mayor had quickly accused his political opponents of exploiting traders and students. The latter protested, on January 4, 2023, against the decision of their mayor to cancel the rental contract of a building which had housed them in Dakar for several years. The leader of this angry movement, Mamadou Badji, was attacked at night by men on scooters, causing him numerous injuries.
Relations between the Mayor and the young people of the city are beginning to be strained. The young people had not agreed to take part in the cleaning of the city’s canals and, in retaliation, the Mayor refused to release the grants to the sports and cultural associations (Asc) of the city, while this support for the movement association is regularly provided for in the municipal budget. The traditional football competition called the Mayor’s Cup has also been abolished. The Mayor, in a nihilistic approach, stopped the activities of the Support Program for Communes and Agglomerations (Pacasen), implemented by the State in the commune, and which provided for the erection of a sports, cultural and socio-economic baptised Zig Center, on the grounds of the large ruminants’ fair grounds.
The fact remains that canal cleansing activities were not carried out last year and if this situation persists, neighbourhoods such as Belfort, Goumel and Santhiaba will be exposed to recurrent flooding in the next rains. The youth known as « jakartamen », who operate the motorcycle taxi business, also protested against the measures to increase the license and the municipal tax. During the election campaign, the candidate Ousmane Sonko had promised them that their activities would be free. The dismissal of around fifty young workers from the Autonomous Road Maintenance Fund (Fera) is another decision by the mayor that angers people. Othercity hall staff have been fired. They apparently belong to the camp of Abdoulaye Baldé. This has pushed the Mayor’s detractors to say that he « promised us Burok (work in the Joola language), but we are discovering Buyok (fatigue, despair) ». Moreover, the Mayor has instituted a municipal civic service where many committed young people are involved in the community. The Mayor had baptised his municipal program “Burok”, to register it under the seal of work and achievements. The first garbage collection trucks he had received as part of a donation made by the Catalan municipality of Vic (Spain) to the city of Ziguinchor, then headed by Mayor Baldé, were repainted in the colours of this slogan.
On May 12, 2022, the Mayor suspended the housing estates in the districts of Djibock, Kandialang and Kénia, on the grounds of noted irregularities. Beneficiaries were summoned to the town hall to explain the circumstances in which the land had been allocated to them. They are still awaiting the outcome of this case for which the Mayor had threatened to file a complaint. The populations hope to see the electoral promise of the electrification of certain peripheral districts materialise. The Mayor has not yet managed to implement his promise to build community preschool classes in certain neighbourhoods and to recruit staff. With a view, he said, to rationalise expenditure, certain social benefits for municipal staff, such as the payment of overtime and the bonuses of town hall agents assigned to dispensaries, are no longer paid.These employees grumble. Similarly, support for staff during Labor Day on May 1 was removed in 2022.
A Solitary and Inexpert Management of the Town Hall
There are many Municipal Councillors who claim to have no contact with the mayor, who works alone. Meetings of the Municipal Office are not held and deputies to the Mayor claim that the Mayor does not even recognise them, due to lack of opportunities to meet them. The fuel allocations allocated to the deputies were removed while the Mayor, according to some Municipal Councillors, continues to regularly receive his salary of 900 thousand francs. The deputies receive a monthly stipend of 90,000 francs. On May 11, 2022, during Citizens’ Week, Ousmane Sonko announced that he would give up his salary as mayor and certain other benefits such as the monthly fuel allowance. Information which seems not to have been properly passed somewhere. In any case, the Supreme Court seems to confirm the situation of non-inclusive management that complies with good rules.
By decisions dated December 7, 2022, the high jurisdiction challenged numerous deliberations of the town hall of Ziguinchor, on the grounds of irregularities or failure to convene the Municipal Council. The Court did not need to consider the case on the merits. This is how the decisions of February 17, 2022, to create a credit union, a housing cooperative and to change the name of four streets, and even the establishment of a new organisational chart in the town hall, were invalidated by the administrative judges, following appeals from the Prefect of Ziguinchor.
The representative of the State had unsuccessfully requested a second reading from the City Council who refused, thus obliging him to refer the decisions for annulment to the Supreme Court. It remains to be seen: after this setback that has occurred since December 7, 2022, will Ousmane Sonko resign himself to swallowing his pride and bringing together the municipal council in the rules, or will he shun the implementation of his projects thus failed? The conduct of the decentralised cooperation component makes some Municipal Councillors cringe. For example, the town hall of Ziguinchor was for several years a member of the International Association of Francophone Mayors (Aimf) and was its vice-president, a position now lost because Ousmane Sonko, who was still intoxicated with the ideas of « France dégage« , refused to participate in the General Assembly held in Abidjan. He has indeed decided not to respond to invitations from the Aimf. In addition, building permits are outstanding in the Mayor’s Office, due to a lack of competent human resources to process the files. In the meantime, people wanting to build are delayed.
Risk of Blockage of the Municipal Council of Ziguinchor
The collaboration between the mayor of Ziguinchor and the State services is proving difficult, even if the collection of household waste is normally carried out by a structure under the aegis of the Ministry of Urban Planning, Housing and Public Health. The State of Senegal, considering that the town halls of the cities would not find sufficient resources to carry out this mission, replaces the local authorities. However, the absurd refusal of the mayor of Ziguinchor to continue to respect the agreement signed by his predecessor with the Municipality of Enampor to use a site in the village of Mamatoro as a final dump will not fail in the long term to cause difficulties for garbage collection.
However, the big bone of contention between the State of Senegal and the City of Ziguinchor are likely to come from the question of the adoption of the budget for the 2023 financial year. The city council wants to increase its budget by 150%.It was around 2 billion francs to 5 billion CFA francs. The Prefect refused to approve the new budget which he considers insincere. Indeed, the Mayor is counting on fundraising through voluntary popular subscription operations, which seem quite random. The municipal team is not in the logic of reviewing its copy and once the date of March 31, 2023, passes, the Prefect will have the latitude to impose a budget on the Town Hall. It is not certain that either side will agree to let go, and this could lead to an impasse.
By Madiambal DIAGNE / mdiagne@lequotidien.sn
- Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH / Serigne S. DIAGNE
