{"id":19869,"date":"2024-08-29T15:43:21","date_gmt":"2024-08-29T14:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/?p=19869"},"modified":"2024-08-29T15:43:24","modified_gmt":"2024-08-29T14:43:24","slug":"does-senegal-plan-on-stopping-its-electricity-supply-to-the-gambia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/does-senegal-plan-on-stopping-its-electricity-supply-to-the-gambia\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Senegal plan on stopping its electricity supply to The Gambia?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Gambia has experienced a surge in power cuts over the last couple of weeks, causing people to enjoy only a few hours of electricity. The blackout has caused a lot of unrest in the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reasons for the blackout are multifaceted, ranging from colossal debts in the energy sector to poor partnership agreements. One of these has resulted in the reported threats by Senelec, Senegal\u2019s electricity company, to cut off their supply to The Gambia further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DUBAWA will take a holistic look at the sector, the challenges, and the major highlights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Background<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To keep the lights on, The Gambia National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)  with Senegal in 2017<\/a>. This was done under a power purchase agreement. NAWEC also partnered with Karpowership, a Turkish company specialising in energy supply. The contract with Karpowership<\/a> and SENELEC,<\/a> which was expected to be a short-term solution, continued with NAWEC renewing their contracts in 2022 despite the huge financial implications on The Gambia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NAWEC renewed its contract with Karpowership to provide 30 megawatts of power supply. Its agreement with Senegal is to provide 50 megawatts of electricity imported through Soma and Brikama Gambia River Basin Development Organisation (OMVG) substations for five years. Therefore, the Gambia\u2019s power supply comes from NAWEC, Karpowership, and Senelec. However, this has not solved the water and electricity problems The Gambia continues to face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the power supply in rural Gambia has significantly improved compared to urban Gambia, there are fears that if Senelec pulls out, the situation will become dire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have since been divergent opinions on the matter, as can be seen below;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The debt<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As part of strategies to pay off debts in the sector, NAWEC, last year, increased the water and electricity tariff by up to 36% for domestic electricity consumers.<\/a> The tariff is largely attributed to what has been referred to as its \u201cbad deal\u201d with Senelec. Although disgruntled Gambians took to the streets,<\/a> demanding that NAWEC stick to the cheaper rate, NAWEC went ahead with the new rate. Last year, in April, when the country experienced a similar power cut, it was reported that Senelec \u201cabruptly disconnected close to 95% of its power supply to The Gambia.\u201d<\/a> The Point Newspaper had reported that it was reliably informed that \u201cPresident Adama Barrow has contacted Senegalese President Macky Sall to intervene while the Gambia government settles SENELEC\u2019s electricity bills.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, The Gambia was reported to have owed Senelec up to GMD 900,000,000, close to a billion dalasi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nawec\u2019s Electricity and Water Tariff<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Gambia VP\u2019s sudden visit to Senegal<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month, the Vice President of The Gambia and other ministers visited Senegal to meet their Senegalese counterparts. It has been widely alleged that the main reason for the trip was that Senelec had \u2018threatened\u2019 to cut off their partnership with The Gambia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journalist Baboucarr Nani Sey wrote on his Facebook:<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou are here complaining about land issues, forgetting that Senelec is threatening to cut off the power supply we have been enjoying all this while. Did you ask yourselves why there were sudden power cuts all these days and the VP\u2019s emergency trip to Dakar to meet Sonko, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whats-on-Gambia, the most followed Gambian online media platform, shared details of his post.<\/a> This generated over 1000 comments and 71 shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As such, The Gambians took to social media, demanding an explanation from the government. Some of the comments can be seen below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite the many calls, The Gambia government has not said anything about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What changed?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With Macky Sall, former President of Senegal, out of power, The Gambia\u2019s ties with the Senegalese government are not as rosy as they used to be. Despite the huge sum NAWEC owes Senelec, the Senegalese electricity company continued to supply power, although it was anticipated that things would change with regime change. The former Minister of Petroleum of Senegal, now Minister of Tourism, had said Senelec would stop supplying The Gambia with power once Macky left power due to the debt owed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mr Sall was Barrow\u2019s closest ally, and he allowed The Gambia’s prolonged debts for electricity supply to persist. Will the new Senegalese leadership do the same, or will The Gambia face some penalties? Already, the pervasive blackout is enough torture for many Gambians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Gambia has experienced a surge in power cuts over the last couple of weeks, causing people to enjoy only a few hours of electricity. The blackout has caused a lot of unrest in the country.  The reasons for the blackout are multifaceted, ranging from colossal debts in the energy sector to poor partnership agreements. One of these has resulted in the reported threats by Senelec, Senegal\u2019s electricity company, to cut off their supply to The Gambia further. DUBAWA will take a holistic look at the sector, the challenges, and the major highlights. Background To keep the lights on, The Gambia National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)  with Senegal in 2017. This was done under a power purchase agreement. NAWEC also partnered with Karpowership, a Turkish company specialising in energy supply. The contract with Karpowership and SENELEC, which was expected to be a short-term solution, continued with NAWEC renewing their contracts in 2022 despite the huge financial implications on The Gambia. NAWEC renewed its contract with Karpowership to provide 30 megawatts of power supply. Its agreement with Senegal is to provide 50 megawatts of electricity imported through Soma and Brikama Gambia River Basin Development Organisation (OMVG) substations for five years. Therefore, the Gambia\u2019s power supply comes from NAWEC, Karpowership, and Senelec. However, this has not solved the water and electricity problems The Gambia continues to face. Although the power supply in rural Gambia has significantly improved compared to urban Gambia, there are fears that if Senelec pulls out, the situation will become dire.  There have since been divergent opinions on the matter, as can be seen below; The debt As part of strategies to pay off debts in the sector, NAWEC, last year, increased the water and electricity tariff by up to 36% for domestic electricity consumers. The tariff is largely attributed to what has been referred to as its \u201cbad deal\u201d with Senelec. Although disgruntled Gambians took to the streets, demanding that NAWEC stick to the cheaper rate, NAWEC went ahead with the new rate. Last year, in April, when the country experienced a similar power cut, it was reported that Senelec \u201cabruptly disconnected close to 95% of its power supply to The Gambia.\u201d The Point Newspaper had reported that it was reliably informed that \u201cPresident Adama Barrow has contacted Senegalese President Macky Sall to intervene while the Gambia government settles SENELEC\u2019s electricity bills.\u201d   Last year, The Gambia was reported to have owed Senelec up to GMD 900,000,000, close to a billion dalasi.  Nawec\u2019s Electricity and Water Tariff The Gambia VP\u2019s sudden visit to Senegal Earlier this month, the Vice President of The Gambia and other ministers visited Senegal to meet their Senegalese counterparts. It has been widely alleged that the main reason for the trip was that Senelec had \u2018threatened\u2019 to cut off their partnership with The Gambia.  Journalist Baboucarr Nani Sey wrote on his Facebook: \u201cYou are here complaining about land issues, forgetting that Senelec is threatening to cut off the power supply we have been enjoying all this while. Did you ask yourselves why there were sudden power cuts all these days and the VP\u2019s emergency trip to Dakar to meet Sonko, huh?\u201d Whats-on-Gambia, the most followed Gambian online media platform, shared details of his post. This generated over 1000 comments and 71 shares. As such, The Gambians took to social media, demanding an explanation from the government. Some of the comments can be seen below.  Despite the many calls, The Gambia government has not said anything about it. What changed? With Macky Sall, former President of Senegal, out of power, The Gambia\u2019s ties with the Senegalese government are not as rosy as they used to be. Despite the huge sum NAWEC owes Senelec, the Senegalese electricity company continued to supply power, although it was anticipated that things would change with regime change. The former Minister of Petroleum of Senegal, now Minister of Tourism, had said Senelec would stop supplying The Gambia with power once Macky left power due to the debt owed.  Conclusion Mr Sall was Barrow\u2019s closest ally, and he allowed The Gambia’s prolonged debts for electricity supply to persist. Will the new Senegalese leadership do the same, or will The Gambia face some penalties? Already, the pervasive blackout is enough torture for many Gambians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"hannibal_claim_source":"","hannibal_source_label":"","hannibal_card_color":"blue","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[1572,210,435,3815,2815],"tags":[],"verdict":[],"ppma_author":[3783],"class_list":["post-19869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-explainers","category-analysis","category-article","category-homepage","category-the-gambia"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R6dE-5at","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":3783,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"mariam-sankanu","display_name":"Mariam Sankanu","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Photo-Source-africa-energy-portal.org_.png?fit=512%2C335&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19869"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19871,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19869\/revisions\/19871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19869"},{"taxonomy":"verdict","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/verdict?post=19869"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=19869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}