The Senegalese vendors in the Serrekunda Market have refuted the reports aired on the Senegalese private television station, Wal Fadjir, that the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) evicted the Senegalese nationals from the Serrekunda Market.

The six Senegalese businessmen, Njogou Jagne, Alhagie Jeng, Ebrima Nyang, Sheikh Jobe, Baboucarr Khan and Papa Leigh walked into the Daily Observer offices to refute the story.

According to Njogu Jagne, the report is false and incaccurate and the reality is that no Senegalese has vaccate. He added that such allegations can break the cordial relationship between the two states.

“When we hard the news from Wal Fadjir, we where shock for the fact that it is not true. We have a very excellent stay in The Gambia and the report can therefore tarnish our images wghich we would not tolerate. We are still in the market and we have never had any problem with neither the KMC nor any Gambian” he said.

According to him, most of the Senegalese businessmen in the market spend more than 20 years in the market without any problem with the municipality. “The KMC only at one time told us to organise our places where we display what we sell, just by the road side. But they have never force us to vaccate. We are still in the market and the story carried on Wal Fadjir TV in Senegal is false.

Similarly, the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) has also reacted to the reports describing it as false.

In an interview with the Daily Observer last evening, Pa Kalifa Sanyang, the Public Relations Officer, KMC,  said the report is inaccurate and  insisted that the council has not asked a single Senegalese national out of the market.

He went on to explain what actually happened saying “ what happened is that we have relocated a handful of vendors in the market to create more space for others, whose current positions in the market happen to fall within a disputed area of the Serrekunda Car Park annexed as a market. We relocated them without paying attention to any nationality and the fact that

some Senegalese were affected does not mean they were a special target” he said.

According to PRO Sanyang, its a fact that in The Gambian markets,it is extremely accommodative of our Senegalese brothers and sisters doing business in all the markets and have always been treated along equal lines with their Gambian counterparts.

The council according to PRO Sanyang, is very much concerned about this report and warned that any vendor found to be relaying such malicious reports to the Senegalese media, risks losing his or her place in the market. “I believe Senegalese doing business in general in The Gambia owe a great deal of gratitude to the APRC government because Gambians in Senegal are not accorded equal opportunities in the business sector.

Gambians have been to all major markets in Senegal but don’t find any Gambian owning a pocket stall in any of those market. So I think it is best for our Senegalese brothers and sisters in our markets to learn to respect and refrain from creating undue tension” he advised.

He then observed that any Senegalese vendor who is not happy with the arrangements in the market, have an option to relocate to any appropriate place in a peaceful manner.