Hundreds of people flocked to the Lac Rose estate to move in. The movement was prompted by a message on Whatsapp informing people of the availability of housing supposedly belonging to former First Lady Marième Faye Sall, which the current Head of State has decided to offer to the population free of charge. It took the energetic intervention of the gendarmerie to dislodge these people who believed in ‘Ubbi Deuk’.   

Something unprecedented happened between Friday 12 and Monday 15 July. Hundreds of people flocked to the Lac Estate, in the commune of Bambilor, to move into accommodation without any formalities. The mass movement was sparked off by a Whatsapp announcement that anyone who wanted to could come and take up residence, free of charge. ‘Ubbi Deuk (open up your home) »: there’s no need to look far and wide for these people. ‘We heard that this is Marième Faye Sall’s estate and that President Bassirou Diomaye Faye is in the process of giving it to the people. That’s why we’ve come to settle here’, said Moussa, who came with his family from Tivaouane Peulh. ‘We’re having huge problems renting, which is why I’ve come to occupy one of the houses’, he continued, recalling that he was one of the victims of house demolitions in Tivaouane Peulh.

One lot of 153 homes has now been fully completed, while the others are awaiting completion. A similar situation arose a few years earlier. It was at the resettlement site for disaster victims in the suburbs, commonly known as Plan Jaxaay. Deprived of a roof over their heads, a number of people initiated the very first ‘Ubbi Deuk’ on these housing units owned by the State. After months of living there, they were finally evicted in favour of the real beneficiaries. Housing remains a real headache for most of our fellow citizens.

By Alioune Badara Ndiaye / abndiaye@lequotidien.sn

  • Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH