Gambiaj.com – (DAKAR, Senegal) – A simmering row has broken out between one of Senegal’s most influential media houses, Groupe Walfadjri, and the Presidency of Bassirou Diomaye Faye, after the outlet was left out of paid media arrangements for the launch of the President’s new political party, KIIRAAY–Les Patriotes Républicains.
The party was formally unveiled last Saturday at the King Fahd Palace in Dakar, an event that party officials chose to promote through sponsored publireportages and dedicated airtime purchased from a select list of media houses. Walfadjri, one of the country’s oldest and most prominent press groups, was conspicuously absent from that list.
Many in Senegal believe that the media outlet that has become a loud supporter of Ousmane Sonko and, at the same time, a fierce critic of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, was being punished by not being invited and not being paid to cover the event.
The decision has, however, angered Walfadjri’s ownership at a time when Senegal’s private press is already grappling with severe financial strain.
Niass Writes to the Palace
Cheikh Niass, Chief Executive Officer of Groupe Walfadjri, has since addressed a formal letter of protest to the Presidency, a copy of which was published in his group’s own daily newspaper. In it, he criticizes what he describes as the exclusion of Walfadjri’s platforms from official coverage arrangements surrounding the launch of the President’s party.
Niass maintained that his organization has consistently upheld its responsibility to keep the public informed, noting that Walfadjri regularly reports on the President’s travels, national addresses, and key activities “in strict compliance with journalistic ethics.”
He went further, describing the omission as tantamount to a boycott, and said it was difficult to reconcile with the historical role Walfadjri has played in championing media pluralism in Senegal.
“Never Blacklisted,” Even Under Macky Sall
Notably, the Walfadjri boss pointed out that even during the administration of former President Macky Sall, a period in which the group’s outlets were frequently and openly critical of the government, Walfadjri was never formally frozen out by the Presidency.
“On the contrary, our group has always been regarded as an indispensable player in the national media landscape, regardless of its editorial line,” Niass wrote, invoking the legacy of the group’s founder, the late Sidy Lamine Niass, a towering figure in Senegalese journalism.
He added a broader appeal to democratic principles, arguing that a democratic government distinguishes itself by guaranteeing all media houses fair and equitable access, without discrimination.
Echoes of a Tense TV Interview
The dispute revives tensions that first became public during President Faye’s televised interview with national journalists on 2 May 2026.
During that broadcast, the President directly confronted Walfadjri journalist Moustapha Diop, telling him that commentary made about him in the media, often on Walfadjri’s own channel, had “shocked all of Senegal.”
“What is said about me as President shocks the whole of Senegal, and the most paradoxical thing is that it happens on your very own television channel,” President Faye said at the time, while insisting he remained tolerant of criticism and describing himself as a committed democrat, “perhaps even too much of one.”
As of press time, the new presidential party had not issued a public response to Cheikh Niass’s letter.
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