LONASE rejects Dakar-Plateau Mayor’s environmental damage claims over kiosk installations
The company claims that its kiosks are a “model of formal deployment” that creates jobs and contributes to municipal tax revenues.
Senegal.- Senegal’s state lottery operator, LONASE, has strongly denied allegations of environmental destruction and social neglect levelled against it by Alioune Ndoye, the Mayor of Dakar-Plateau.
In a letter posted on his Facebook page on October 31, 2025, Ndoye accused LONASE of encroaching on sidewalks with its point-of-sale kiosks in the Dakar-Plateau district, narrowing pedestrian pathways and disfiguring the city’s landscape. He noted that no mayoral decree has authorised the kiosks since 2009 and urged the lottery firm to “invest in decent premises, suitable and worthy of the stature of a national company”. Ndoye concluded the letter by giving LONASE a one-month deadline to remove the installations or face enforcement actions.
LONASE responded to the allegations on the same day in a two-page statement signed by Head of Communication Aïssatou Diagne. The company said that, contrary to Ndoye’s claims, all its activities are carried out in strict compliance with existing laws and regulations, and are rooted in a historic partnership appreciated by local communities.
Each kiosk is installed following authorisation from the competent municipal services and regularly pays occupation taxes and fees as required by law. Furthermore, the company claims that its kiosks are a “model of formal deployment” that creates jobs and contributes to municipal tax revenues.
The company noted with concern Ndoye’s hostility towards its operations ever since he took office, which has manifested in arbitrary evictions of its points of sale, often carried out without notice or consultation. Ndoye was also accused of not being open to finding a mutually beneficial solution after receiving a formal proposal from LONASE’s Director General on July 1, 2024, for a stakeholder meeting to resolve the issue, but indicated that he was not interested in dialogue.
Nevertheless, LONASE says it remains committed to dialogue and is willing to work with Ndoye to find suitable solutions, just as it has with other local authorities.
