The collective of agents of the National Waste Management Company (SONAGED), seconded to the General Directorate of Urban Planning and Architecture (DGUA) as part of the "XËYU NDAW ÑI" program launched in 2021, held a press conference this Thursday to warn of an unprecedented wage crisis. Recruited in March 2022 to strengthen technical capacities in urban planning, these 31 agents, mostly engineers and technicians, have not been paid since July 2024, accumulating 13 months of arrears, despite a renewal of their fixed-term contracts in March 2024.

Initiated after the Presidential Council of April 2021, this measure aimed to meet the employment needs of young people across the country. Salaries, previously provided by SONAGED, were suspended without justification, in violation of Articles L.48 and L.56 of the Labor Code, plunging employees into extreme precariousness: debts, children's school dropouts, and psychological disorders. The collective denounces the blocking attitude of the Director General of SONAGED, despite an available budget, contrasting with the openness to dialogue of the Director General of the DGUA.

After unsuccessful attempts to contact officials at the DGUA, SONAGED, and the Ministry of Urban Planning, the workers are calling on Minister Moussa Bala Fofana to find an urgent solution and renew their contracts. They are urgently appealing to Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko for rapid intervention, threatening, in the event of inaction, to organize sit-ins, peaceful marches, or a hunger strike to defend their dignity.