Coming out of retirement, the former Minister of Communication and Digital Economy has invited himself into the standoff between media owners and their supervisory authorities. In a press release, Moussa Bocar Thiam asks the new authorities to stop stigmatizing the Senegalese press and to respect the State’s commitments. « There is nothing alarming about a press company having tax debts, » assured the former minister, and, revealed his own figures. According to him, in 2023, the tax debt of the public and private press was 10,337,595,510 CFA francs in simple fees and 2,900,000 CFA francs in penalties. 

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He stated that « 50% of this tax debt is owed by the heads of public companies who are not subject to any pressure from the Administration, so why go after private press companies? » In addition, the former minister, who is addressing his successor directly but also to defend his actions, is outraged by the revelation of these 800 million that did not go to the media. « Saying that out of 1 billion 900 million CFA francs, the 800 million CFA francs were used by other structures that are not press companies, is a desire to create suspicion of embezzlement of public funds, » protested Mr Thiam. 

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« If stigmatization is the project, the State must publish the list of beneficiaries of the Solidarity Fund for Artists, the microfinance fund, the National Solidarity Fund, the political fund of the presidency of the Republic, etc. », he recommended.