The Director General of Sen'Eau, Mr. Magatte Niang, traveled to Medina Baye to meet with the Khalif, Sheikh Mouhamadoul Mahi Ibrahim Niass. This visit aimed to clarify the alleged water cut-off in the religious city due to unpaid bills. The head of the water utility took this opportunity to set the record straight and calm tensions. According to him, cutting off the water supply to a mosque in Senegal, and certainly not to that of Medina Baye, is out of the question. He specified that the current dispute is solely between his company and the Kaolack municipality concerning the payment of certain municipal bills.

Mr. Magatte Niang emphasized two key points. First, the mosque's water supply was never cut off, even though a payment order for 22 million CFA francs was issued. Second, he revealed that the Kaolack city council owes Sen'Eau a total of 218 million CFA francs, including the 22 million attributed to the mosque. According to the director, no payments have been made by the new municipal team since the beginning of its term. Although steps have been taken since 2013 to establish a payment agreement, the situation has not improved, prompting Sen'Eau to initiate debt collection proceedings.

The director general also revealed that the Kaolack city council had installed an illegal connection as part of this standoff. Despite the seriousness of these events, Mr. Niang sought to downplay the incident. He stated that the priority now is for the city council and Sen'Eau to work together to find compromises and ensure the effective payment of accumulated debts, in order to guarantee the continuity of public service in the capital of the Saloum region.

Seynabou Diagne, correspondent in Kaolack