Déguerpissements : la brutalité du court terme face à l’intelligence du long terme (Par Cheikh Omar Sall)
Each new eviction operation is heralded with fanfare, as a resounding victory for public order. In reality, it's nothing more than a tragic scene: destroyed stalls, families plunged into anguish, cries of distress lost in the dust of the bulldozers. And then? Nothing changes. The problem shifts, the merchants return elsewhere, and the city continues to suffocate under the same disorder.
Because the truth is simple: leaving without a plan is a recipe for failure.
The punch against reason
A strong state is not measured by its ability to deploy law enforcement, but by its ability to anticipate, plan, and support. Evictions, in their current form, are not a policy: they are reflexes. They reflect the inability to think differently about the city, the inability to build an inclusive future for those who make a living from street trading.
Small businesses are being stripped of their livelihoods without being offered an alternative. They are being treated like intruders, even though they are essential players in the urban economy. We think we are solving a problem, but we are only fueling frustration, anger, and mistrust.
The intelligence of dialogue and pedagogy
There is another way, more demanding but infinitely more effective: dialogue and pedagogy.
Before any operation, we must talk to those concerned, explain to them why the anarchic occupation of public space hinders mobility, threatens security, and damages the image of our cities. This work of explanation is a mark of respect, but also an essential prerequisite for any lasting transformation.
Communication campaigns, whether through radio, social media, or retail associations, must prepare the ground. Because habits cannot be changed by force, but by conviction.
Offer worthy alternatives
To demand without offering is to condemn. We must offer credible alternatives: modern, organized, accessible markets, integrated into urban planning.
Morocco shows us the way with its redeveloped souks, which preserve the soul of traditional commerce while providing a functional setting. Paris, as early as the 19th century, invented covered passages and shopping malls, transforming the street into a space for harmonious circulation between commerce and urban planning.
Why not draw inspiration from these models to build, in Dakar, Thiès or Kaolack, modern and formal commercial spaces, which free up public space while offering merchants a dignified and profitable setting?
For a vision that goes beyond urgency
It's not just about building markets. It's about setting a vision:
• Plan the city by integrating informal trade stakeholders.
• Support the transition of merchants through appropriate social and economic mechanisms.
• Transform public space into a place of circulation, meeting and economic revitalization.
Such an approach requires political courage and consistency. But only it can break the cycle of fruitless evictions.
The power of intelligence
Bulldozers may raze stalls, but they don't build a city. Only a thoughtful, inclusive, and sustainable vision can do that. Every eviction without a program is a display of political weakness disguised as a show of strength.
The time has come to replace short-term brutality with long-term intelligence. To build modern "souks," Senegalese shopping malls, spaces where public order and the popular economy coexist instead of clashing.
It is only at this price that our cities will breathe and that our citizens, all our citizens, will have the certainty that the Republic respects them.
Sheikh Omar SALL
Commentaires (13)
Toutefois, il faut avoir le courage d'enlever ce qui n'est pas bon. Malheureusement, on est truffé de fumistes qui disent "daniou done dane sen doolé"; si chacun se donnait cette liberté personne n'avancerait.
Que celui qui avait une cantine legale soit recasé dans les mêmes standards sinon meilleures, gni si nékou lone bou niou sonnal
Nos villes sont sales, occupées illégalement et les piétons n'ont plus où poser le pied.
Néanmoins je suis d'accord avec vous sur un point, il faut faire déguerpir les occupants illégaux des trottoirs et installer une surveillance régulière aux mêmes endroits.
IL YA TROP DE LAXISME. Il enlever les occupations illégales
Stop cette démagogie qui ne dit pas son nom
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