Under fire from discordant positions, the municipality of Ourossogui was unable to hold its regular municipal council session this weekend. The session devoted to voting on the budget was marked by heated physical altercations between supporters of the mayor and councilors from the "opposition", which led to the meeting being called off.

Appreciating the deleterious situation, where the skirmishes turned into a fight, the chairman of the meeting, in this case the second deputy, who chaired the meeting, in place of the mayor absent from the national territory, suspended the council meeting. However, the decision taken will not find the support of the councilors of the city councilor Me Moussa Bocar Thiam, who will hold a council in the deliberation room in the absence of the other councilors who had left the premises, because of the postponement promulgated by the chairman of the meeting. The incident which motivated the movement of the gendarmerie on the premises, is today, the source of a lively controversy within the municipal council. A confusion surrounding the suspension of the meeting and its postponement, and the holding of a council by councilors who opposed the decision of the chairman of the meeting, who had been collegially chosen by all the councilors present.

"The municipal council was convened by delegation. We cannot say for whose benefit? The fact remains that we showed up. The first deputy mayor declared before the council that she was unable to chair the meeting." "As second deputy mayor, I took responsibility for chairing the meeting. In accordance with Article 150 of the Local Authorities Code, which states that at the opening of the session, the council appoints a secretary. I decided to apply the law, asking who wanted to act as secretary, no one came forward, I appointed a secretary," relates Saly Mamadou Thiam, the second deputy mayor. Before making it known that "in practice, the mayor chose his brother, who serves as municipal secretary of the town hall, even though the latter is not an elected official."

After the various usual protocols, the session began normally. But it didn't last. During the ensuing debates, an exchange of insipid remarks polluted the meeting, leading to physical altercations between municipal councilors. Assuring the police of the meeting, the president decided to suspend the municipal council session until 9 a.m. the following day. According to him, he informed the departmental prefect of the situation, who requisitioned the gendarmerie to ensure public order.

"Two municipal councilors got into a fight, and this led to intense tension in the room. Ensuring the meeting was policed, I decided to suspend the session." "Despite everything, councilors belonging to the mayor's party remained in the room, asking a councilor to chair the meeting," laments the chairman of the meeting, who dismisses any legitimacy of this body, declares the president.

Controversy within the City Council

The leader of the municipal councilors who support the mayor, Moussa Bocar Thiam, downplayed the incident, referring to "just disagreements between two councilors." Ciré Mamadou Dia, instead, spoke of a blockade perpetrated by councilors who were opposed to the Mayor. According to him: "From the beginning, we observed a desire to sabotage. First, there were problems surrounding the choice of the meeting secretary. It was always the municipal secretary who did that. The chairman of the meeting himself took the initiative to appoint a councilor to carry out the task. We did not oppose that." "During the council meeting, councilors who oppose the mayor stood up to sabotage the meeting, before leaving the meeting." In response, he stated that after noting the motivation of the "opponents," he and his peers held a council meeting that examined all the items on the agenda. To this end, a report will be submitted to the prefect of the Matam department.

However, the incident that prompted the police to come to the scene is now the source of heated debate within the municipal council, where the decision to be taken by the authority at the head of the department is being awaited with restraint. This is in light of the dispute that has arisen over the suspension and postponement of the meeting, and the holding of a council meeting (recorded in minutes), by councillors who opposed the decision of the chairman of the meeting, who had been chosen collectively by all the councillors present.

The Ourossogui municipal council had proceeded to the election of a new joint office, following the invalidation by the Supreme Court of the first office for non-compliance with parity. This led to the election of Mariam Djiby Sy as first deputy mayor of the commune of Ourossogui led by Me Moussa Bocar Thiam. Lawyer Me Saly Mamadou Thiam is the second deputy mayor and Coumba Ba, the third deputy.